North Vancouver's own political BLOG dedicated to North Vancouver's political players and the decisions that shape our community.
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Please Get Out and Vote Today. Spread the Word!
39 comments:
Anonymous
said...
I just voted at the Lynn Valley Rec Centre. There were about 10 voters there and some leaving and some arriving. Get out and vote and remind everyone you know and everyone you run into. I did and will continue to do so throughout the day.
I just received a phone message reminding me to vote for Jessica Stanley for school trustee and "somebody" for council. The message was garbled and there was a whole lot of background noise. Nasty!
Bad politicians are elected by good citizens that do not vote.
Wrong. Bad politicians are elected by people who blindly pick any familiar name off the list without knowing who they're voting for:
Dear District of North Vancouver person in front of me at the poll - when you ask me "Who is running for Mayor?" I think "WHY IN HELL ARE YOU VOTING?!"
If you don't know that the current mayor was acclaimed I'm pretty sure that you have NO CLUE who you are voting for for Councillors and School Board.
OK John - a challenge for you: what is the value to our society of someone who doesn't know anything about the candidates, or the issues, marking a X on a ballot?
Surely if you want the franchise you should be prepared to do the real work to make an informed choice.
I agree that we should research as much as possible. An uninformed vote is obviously a misguided vote. Unfortunately from what I see that is how the political machines tend to exploit the vote. I think its called the '10 minute voter.
Perhaps this bodes well for ward system so there's not so many candidates to have to choose from.
It is over for all of us renters, those on fixed incomes and minimum wages, Mussatto and his gang have won which actually means that the Developers have really been the winners. Watch the high rises completely fill up the City, every square inch. I am so sorry that I will be forced off the North Shore my home for over 65 years
I never actually thought that I would ever agree with anything Barry Rueger says, but as for complacency/apathy among voters "who shouldn't have voted"...
Democracy is broken, indeed. It's going to be a very long four years, folks...
At the risk of repeating above comments, people are not truly informing themselves in any comprehensive numbers plus many just don't vote at all. Isn't democracy by definition a participation by at least a majority of the people? That's how it's 'broken'. Small numbers participate and the result is repetition of the status quo. Knowing that the 'organized' machines are out there churning the vote vs. those who do not have the resources to promote themselves enough - a form of corruption from the onset as I see it. Yes, the information is there for all to see and make informed decisions for themselves, but the fact that people do not is taken full advantage of. It's like some sick game. I don't know how you fix it as voting is voluntary. You can't make people vote or research.
To anon 10:03 am....pretty insensitive statement, hope you get some kind of twisted sense of joy from it.
What Ms. Cook presents is a very realistic scenario where individuals who are in lower income situations, older (lower) rentals are displaced because of developers plowing down their residences. It happens all the time and is a source of serious social consequences. Not a laughing matter.
Very sad and undemocratic situation in the CNV - 28% voter turnout -up but the popular vote % went to the independents. Agree with anon 12.14, level playing field needed. Candidates not developer/union funded have no chance against the machine, and when a candidate is used by another candidate to sling mud even more disturbing. First order of business to reinstate high density in the ocp, then on to the ferris wheel and skating rink.
DNV was 24.7% this time round which is still awful but up from 21% in '11 and 16.7% in '08.
I asked the mayor at the Hall on election night what he was prepared to do to get a 60% voter turnout like they did in Toronto. He said he would have to think about that but that he was NOT prepared to do crack or hang out with Somali drug dealers! I laughed and said that he didn't seem the type - but that we definitely had to do better than '08 and ''11!
Lyle, I'm interested to know what you believe my single issue is?
As this is my first post on this blog, I am including a caveat to my continued participation. I have followed the blog for a number of years and I am very concerned with the frequency of personal attacks that are tolerated in the comments.
In this post alone, an anonymous individual responded to Sue Cook's comment with an attack calling her "melodramatic and uninformed." In response to that comment, another anonymous individual replied by stating "some kind of twisted sense of joy" must have been gained.
I know that some years ago and after much discussion, the organizers of this blog chose to allow anonymous comments. I would encourage the members here to reflect on the recent happenings in the online gaming community, and re-evaluate the position on anonymous comments.
I would be interested in discussing the concerns, challenges and opportunities that face our community with you here but only is we agree to discuss those issues objectively. We can debate our opinions on the issues, not our opinions of each other. Each of us is a living, breathing, thinking, feeling human being so let's treat each other with the respect we all deserve.
mel·o·dra·mat·ic (ml-dr-mtk) adj. 1. Having the excitement and emotional appeal of melodrama: "a melodramatic account of two perilous days spent among the planters" (Frank O. Gatell). 2. Exaggeratedly emotional or sentimental; histrionic: "Accuse me, if you will, of melodramatic embroidery" (Erskine Childers). 3. Characterized by false pathos and sentiment.
Geez not really that bad of a thing to say to someone. And my interpretation of the "some kind of twisted sense of joy" is that it was meant to come to her defense. And what's so bad about that?
You state that you have "followed this blog for many years" and that you "know that some years ago and after much discussion, the organizers of this blog chose to allow anonymous comments"
Notwithstanding what you "know", this blog was a free speech blog for years. Then, some years ago a small cadre of named bloggers pressured the administrator to close the blog to Anon posters.
The blog virtually died. As a result free speech was restored and Anons once again began posting.
You will learn that those that choose the public arena have to be able to withstand public disagreement, sometimes passionately expressed. You don't make the rules regarding free expression and if that is too hard to bear you should remain a private citizen.
Yes, there is a line. That line is slanderous comment. For the most part the posters here respect that line although some of the named posters have been some of the worst for skirting that line. If you have followed this blog for many years you will know that.
Use of a word like melodramatic is not a slanderous comment, it is an observation of a style of expression.
Finally councilor Ernie Crist freely posted here for years and, although I didn't always agree with him, I certainly respected his spirited defense of his opinions against all comers - named or Anon. Sometimes he won and sometimes he lost but he always had my esteem as he wasn't afraid of open debate and discussion. Some of his colleagues were not so courageous and prefer the more formal arena shielded by process and procedure.
If you choose to work in the kitchen you may to have to stand some heat.
I find it highly unlikely that if Mr. Bond has "followed the blog for a number of years" that he has never made even one comment here especially if the topic were about the mountain biking which means he must have made it anonymously.
Thanks for the comments. I enjoy spirited and passionate debate and while none of us set the rules regarding free expression, each of us sets the rules on our own participation. I and others I know have been personally attacked online in the past by anonymous persons and I choose not to participate in that type of environment.
When commenting online, I always pretend I am sitting across the table from that person and type only the words I would be willing to speak to them face to face. I look for a meaningful interaction and that's why I prefer to have names attached to comments.
I am very sorry Matthew Bond objects to my characterization of him as a "single issue candidate" and thinks this is a personal attack BUT (and this is a big but) it is extremely mild compared to the continuous 10 year hate-on by senior members of the North Shore Mountain Biking association aimed primarily at my wife and secondarily towards me.
For those who don't know, nsmb.com is a mountain biking web forum popular with many senior NSMBA people - Matthew Bond posts there as MrBond.
This forum is well known for its disrespectful attacks on those who disagree with NSMBA and residents in the Upper Lynn Valley area. Besides local residents, I know several mountain bikers who just want to ride and have no use for the extreme behaviour typical of both NSMBA and nsmb.com and therefore avoid both like the plague. Some of these have spoken at public forums against the NSMBA agenda - and been ripped on nsmb.com in the crudest way.
While Bond is generally more polite than most nsmb.com users a man is known by the company he keeps - and he does slip occasionally.
Both Monica and I have been personally abused on that site several hundred times over the last decade - we gave up counting years ago.
I think any fair-minded person familiar with the gutter Monica and I have been dragged through by the NSMBA and their friends would characterize what has been said about us as far worse than simply being labelled 'single issue'
The bottom line is the good Councillor-elect is an active user on that forum which is far nastier than northvancouverpolitics.com - Bond's reputation is soiled by his participation there far more than by minor criticism here.
To those who don't know me I have a 90+% attendance rate at District Council going back more than a decade and the ONLY times I've seen Bond there have been in connection with NSMBA presentations. He is hardly the only candidate in the last election who that can be said of.
(Don't let anybody tell you you can keep up with DNV Council by following the live feed - you miss a LOT if you don't actually attend)
Mr. Bond you are guilty by association through your hobby.
Lyle and Monica are long-time public campaigners and have taken hits for their views on mountain biking and associated matters.
Not my ox being gored but each to their own.
The criticism levelled is up to you to ignore or reply.
In my opinion the same criticism and information could have been posted anonymously without diminishing the content but you have received your preference for interaction with a name attached.
Although I would agree with Anon 10:14 PM that the discussion is effective without identity, the discussion between Candidate-elect MrBond and Lyle meets MrBond's condition - conversation with a named commenter. So what say you MrBond?
In regard to the comment that I am not a named poster, I attempted to post previously under a user name (using both the Name/URL, Google Account and Anon options) and was unsuccessful. I contacted John and he made the first post for me. I had the same issue with responding to Lyle's new post. I even received a confirmation email to my Gmail account, but my post has disappeared from the site. Tried with multiple browsers and no dice. John is helping to find a solution, but I'll have to relay my posts through him for the time being.
Lyle, my previous post does not state your comment was a personal attack. I am stating up front that I will choose to participate in this forum if there is a civil discussion. Comments such as Anon @ Thursday, November 20, 2014 3:59:00 pm in the "North Shore Election Results" post highlight the type of negativity I'm not interested in involving myself with.
My experience on the NSMB.com forums is exactly why I put that caveat on my participation. Those forums can be very nasty, which I believe is partly due to anonymity and a world-wide audience of thousands of users.
Contrary to your argument that I am an active user on that forum, I have posted 193 times since I joined in May of 2003. So far in 2014, I have made 10 posts. That hardly makes me an "active user", especially compared to other users who have 20,000+ posts in a similar time period. I posted in that forum primarily to correct any misleading or factually incorrect information about the NSMBA's programs or policies and to weigh on discussions on the direction of mountain biking and trail-building on the North Shore, as was my responsibility as President of the NSMBA. Arguing that my limited participation there somehow leads me to "keep company" with a variety of anonymous users and soil my reputation is quite a stretch. Following the logic of your argument, it could be said that you "keep company" with every individual that has represented themselves to District Council over the past 10 years and that the statements of a few people who have misrepresented information to council reflect negatively on your reputation. I do not think this is a reasonable argument.
Following from that, the link you have drawn between the forum content on NSMB.com, the "senior members" of the NSMBA (previously including myself) and the personal attacks against you and Monica is painting with a very broad brush. I worked hard to promote a culture of respect during my time with the NSMBA and am disappointed that some individuals continue to treat you in a disrespectful way. None of us deserve to be treated in that way.
I respect Monica's opinions but disagree on the approach and solution. While some of Monica's public letters make fact based arguments, others use a broad brush to paint all people that ride a mountain bike on Fromme as "wheeled locusts, wily scofflaws and trail abusers" and the volunteers who maintain trails as "critters and ecological vandals." I've cited an example on this blog of an unprovoked anonymous personal attack against other users. If we put a hundred times more users in this forum and I started calling them names, I'd expect some of them would start calling names back. While it is unfortunate and hurtful for all involved, if that situation were to occur here I think it would be unfair for me to come to you Lyle (being an active user in this forum) and say what you have concluded about me based on your experience from the public forums on NSMB.com. What would be fair is to speak to the owner of the site and ask them to remove any hateful remarks from the public realm.
I am pleased to think that we have avoided that negativity and had a civil discussion here, even though we disagree. We haven't really discussed your opinion of my "single-issue" but we have the next four years to work on that. It may be (and please correct and elaborate if I am incorrect) that because you and Monica have been abused by mountain bikers, and that I ride a mountain bike and was the face of an organization that builds and maintains mountain bike trails, that there is a strong association between the feelings of anger and hurt that you may feel and my new role as a municipal politician. The one positive I can see in this is that we do not actually know each other, having never previously corresponded and only meeting face to face for the first time at the election results announcement on Nov 15th. As you said, there is a lot of healing that has to happen and maybe my new role can help to facilitate that process. I would consider the next four years as an opportunity to get to know each other (beyond what is posted on the internet). Although we will disagree, at least we may be able to develop some level of mutual respect.
Dear Mr. Bond. Thank you for taking the time to express your point of view. As a public person it is important for the electorate to have access to your opinion as your vote has an impact upon the voters.
For those not in authority and without political ambitions Anon is sufficient.
39 comments:
I just voted at the Lynn Valley Rec Centre. There were about 10 voters there and some leaving and some arriving. Get out and vote and remind everyone you know and everyone you run into. I did and will continue to do so throughout the day.
Bad politicians are elected by good citizens that do not vote.
I just received a phone message reminding me to vote for Jessica Stanley for school trustee and "somebody" for council. The message was garbled and there was a whole lot of background noise. Nasty!
Bad politicians are elected by good citizens that do not vote.
Wrong. Bad politicians are elected by people who blindly pick any familiar name off the list without knowing who they're voting for:
Dear District of North Vancouver person in front of me at the poll - when you ask me "Who is running for Mayor?" I think "WHY IN HELL ARE YOU VOTING?!"
If you don't know that the current mayor was acclaimed I'm pretty sure that you have NO CLUE who you are voting for for Councillors and School Board.
This is why democracy is broken.
What's your alternative?
How about this: if you can't name three of the people on the ballot you're not allowed to vote.
If you don't know how many people you're supposed to be electing you're not allowed to vote.
I'm talking about a bar so low that you only need to read the ads in the North Shore News to pass.
How many people would be turned away?
I probably spent four or five hours researching and choosing who to vote for.
Should my vote count for less than someone who's total effort at preparedness involves seeing who has the prettiest signs while driving to the polls?
Well Barry, I won't be so abrupt as to say your wrong. What I will say is that we are both right.
OK John - a challenge for you: what is the value to our society of someone who doesn't know anything about the candidates, or the issues, marking a X on a ballot?
Surely if you want the franchise you should be prepared to do the real work to make an informed choice.
(Yeah, this does irritate me a LOT.)
I agree that we should research as much as possible. An uninformed vote is obviously a misguided vote. Unfortunately from what I see that is how the political machines tend to exploit the vote. I think its called the '10 minute voter.
Perhaps this bodes well for ward system so there's not so many candidates to have to choose from.
Ward! Yes! I am SO up for that!
It is over for all of us renters, those on fixed incomes and minimum wages, Mussatto and his gang have won which actually means that the Developers have really been the winners. Watch the high rises completely fill up the City, every square inch.
I am so sorry that I will be forced off the North Shore my home for over 65 years
Ah Sue, as melodramatic and uninformed as ever. You never disappoint!
Sue should move now so she's ahead of the pack!
I never actually thought that I would ever agree with anything Barry Rueger says, but as for complacency/apathy among voters "who shouldn't have voted"...
Democracy is broken, indeed. It's going to be a very long four years, folks...
How is democracy broken? Who was prevented from voting and how?
At the risk of repeating above comments, people are not truly informing themselves in any comprehensive numbers plus many just don't vote at all. Isn't democracy by definition a participation by at least a majority of the people? That's how it's 'broken'. Small numbers participate and the result is repetition of the status quo. Knowing that the 'organized' machines are out there churning the vote vs. those who do not have the resources to promote themselves enough - a form of corruption from the onset as I see it. Yes, the information is there for all to see and make informed decisions for themselves, but the fact that people do not is taken full advantage of. It's like some sick game. I don't know how you fix it as voting is voluntary. You can't make people vote or research.
"Sue should move now so she's ahead of the pack!"
To anon 10:03 am....pretty insensitive statement, hope you get some kind of twisted sense of joy from it.
What Ms. Cook presents is a very realistic scenario where individuals who are in lower income situations, older (lower) rentals are displaced because of developers plowing down their residences. It happens all the time and is a source of serious social consequences. Not a laughing matter.
Well, at least Sue didn't go on another of her racist tirades against natives and immigrants.
Very sad and undemocratic situation in the CNV - 28% voter turnout -up but the popular vote % went to the independents. Agree with anon 12.14, level playing field needed. Candidates not developer/union funded have no chance against the machine, and when a candidate is used by another candidate to sling mud even more disturbing. First order of business to reinstate high density in the ocp, then on to the ferris wheel and skating rink.
DNV was 24.7% this time round which is still awful but up from 21% in '11 and 16.7% in '08.
I asked the mayor at the Hall on election night what he was prepared to do to get a 60% voter turnout like they did in Toronto. He said he would have to think about that but that he was NOT prepared to do crack or hang out with Somali drug dealers! I laughed and said that he didn't seem the type - but that we definitely had to do better than '08 and ''11!
Matt Bond!
What about him?
I don't have a great deal of time for single-issue candidates in general but particularly on his single-issue.
This is a second test comment.
Lyle,
He has at least 2 issues: getting rid of traffic congestion and building more mountain bike trails.
Lyle, I'm interested to know what you believe my single issue is?
As this is my first post on this blog, I am including a caveat to my continued participation. I have followed the blog for a number of years and I am very concerned with the frequency of personal attacks that are tolerated in the comments.
In this post alone, an anonymous individual responded to Sue Cook's comment with an attack calling her "melodramatic and uninformed." In response to that comment, another anonymous individual replied by stating "some kind of twisted sense of joy" must have been gained.
I know that some years ago and after much discussion, the organizers of this blog chose to allow anonymous comments. I would encourage the members here to reflect on the recent happenings in the online gaming community, and re-evaluate the position on anonymous comments.
I would be interested in discussing the concerns, challenges and opportunities that face our community with you here but only is we agree to discuss those issues objectively. We can debate our opinions on the issues, not our opinions of each other. Each of us is a living, breathing, thinking, feeling human being so let's treat each other with the respect we all deserve.
mel·o·dra·mat·ic (ml-dr-mtk)
adj.
1. Having the excitement and emotional appeal of melodrama: "a melodramatic account of two perilous days spent among the planters" (Frank O. Gatell).
2. Exaggeratedly emotional or sentimental; histrionic: "Accuse me, if you will, of melodramatic embroidery" (Erskine Childers).
3. Characterized by false pathos and sentiment.
Geez not really that bad of a thing to say to someone. And my interpretation of the "some kind of twisted sense of joy" is that it was meant to come to her defense. And what's so bad about that?
Dear Mr. Bond,
You state that you have "followed this blog for many years" and that you "know that some years ago and after much discussion, the organizers of this blog chose to allow anonymous comments"
Notwithstanding what you "know", this blog was a free speech blog for years. Then, some years ago a small cadre of named bloggers pressured the administrator to close the blog to Anon posters.
The blog virtually died.
As a result free speech was restored and Anons once again began posting.
You will learn that those that choose the public arena have to be able to withstand public disagreement, sometimes passionately expressed. You don't make the rules regarding free expression and if that is too hard to bear you should remain a private citizen.
Yes, there is a line. That line is slanderous comment. For the most part the posters here respect that line although some of the named posters have been some of the worst for skirting that line. If you have followed this blog for many years you will know that.
Use of a word like melodramatic is not a slanderous comment, it is an observation of a style of expression.
Finally councilor Ernie Crist freely posted here for years and, although I didn't always agree with him, I certainly respected his spirited defense of his opinions against all comers - named or Anon. Sometimes he won and sometimes he lost but he always had my esteem as he wasn't afraid of open debate and discussion. Some of his colleagues were not so courageous and prefer the more formal arena shielded by process and procedure.
If you choose to work in the kitchen you may to have to stand some heat.
I find it highly unlikely that if Mr. Bond has "followed the blog for a number of years" that he has never made even one comment here especially if the topic were about the mountain biking which means he must have made it anonymously.
Anon @7:40am
Thanks for the comments. I enjoy spirited and passionate debate and while none of us set the rules regarding free expression, each of us sets the rules on our own participation. I and others I know have been personally attacked online in the past by anonymous persons and I choose not to participate in that type of environment.
When commenting online, I always pretend I am sitting across the table from that person and type only the words I would be willing to speak to them face to face. I look for a meaningful interaction and that's why I prefer to have names attached to comments.
Mathew Bond
I am very sorry Matthew Bond objects to my characterization of him as a "single issue candidate" and thinks this is a personal attack BUT (and this is a big but) it is extremely mild compared to the continuous 10 year hate-on by senior members of the North Shore Mountain Biking association aimed primarily at my wife and secondarily towards me.
For those who don't know, nsmb.com is a mountain biking web forum popular with many senior NSMBA people - Matthew Bond posts there as MrBond.
This forum is well known for its disrespectful attacks on those who disagree with NSMBA and residents in the Upper Lynn Valley area. Besides local residents, I know several mountain bikers who just want to ride and have no use for the extreme behaviour typical of both NSMBA and nsmb.com and therefore avoid both like the plague. Some of these have spoken at public forums against the NSMBA agenda - and been ripped on nsmb.com in the crudest way.
While Bond is generally more polite than most nsmb.com users a man is known by the company he keeps - and he does slip occasionally.
Both Monica and I have been personally abused on that site several hundred times over the last decade - we gave up counting years ago.
I think any fair-minded person familiar with the gutter Monica and I have been dragged through by the NSMBA and their friends would characterize what has been said about us as far worse than simply being labelled 'single issue'
The bottom line is the good Councillor-elect is an active user on that forum which is far nastier than northvancouverpolitics.com - Bond's reputation is soiled by his participation there far more than by minor criticism here.
To those who don't know me I have a 90+% attendance rate at District Council going back more than a decade and the ONLY times I've seen Bond there have been in connection with NSMBA presentations. He is hardly the only candidate in the last election who that can be said of.
(Don't let anybody tell you you can keep up with DNV Council by following the live feed - you miss a LOT if you don't actually attend)
Well there we have it.
Mr. Bond you are guilty by association through your hobby.
Lyle and Monica are long-time public campaigners and have taken hits for their views on mountain biking and associated matters.
Not my ox being gored but each to their own.
The criticism levelled is up to you to ignore or reply.
In my opinion the same criticism and information could have been posted anonymously without diminishing the content but you have received your preference for interaction with a name attached.
Although I would agree with Anon 10:14 PM that the discussion is effective without identity, the discussion between Candidate-elect MrBond and Lyle meets MrBond's condition - conversation with a named commenter. So what say you MrBond?
http://bb.nsmb.com/showthread.php?p=2333498#post2333498
His "caveat" hasn't been met at all. He is not a named poster. Until he is he is The pot calling the kettle black.
Huh? Mathew Bond is a named poster and Lyle Craver is a named poster.
Anon 7:44 is right, Mr. Bond's caveat has been met. Yet silence.
In regard to the comment that I am not a named poster, I attempted to post previously under a user name (using both the Name/URL, Google Account and Anon options) and was unsuccessful. I contacted John and he made the first post for me. I had the same issue with responding to Lyle's new post. I even received a confirmation email to my Gmail account, but my post has disappeared from the site. Tried with multiple browsers and no dice. John is helping to find a solution, but I'll have to relay my posts through him for the time being.
this is a test
Lyle, my previous post does not state your comment was a personal attack. I am stating up front that I will choose to participate in this forum if there is a civil discussion. Comments such as Anon @ Thursday, November 20, 2014 3:59:00 pm in the "North Shore Election Results" post highlight the type of negativity I'm not interested in involving myself with.
My experience on the NSMB.com forums is exactly why I put that caveat on my participation. Those forums can be very nasty, which I believe is partly due to anonymity and a world-wide audience of thousands of users.
Contrary to your argument that I am an active user on that forum, I have posted 193 times since I joined in May of 2003. So far in 2014, I have made 10 posts. That hardly makes me an "active user", especially compared to other users who have 20,000+ posts in a similar time period. I posted in that forum primarily to correct any misleading or factually incorrect information about the NSMBA's programs or policies and to weigh on discussions on the direction of mountain biking and trail-building on the North Shore, as was my responsibility as President of the NSMBA. Arguing that my limited participation there somehow leads me to "keep company" with a variety of anonymous users and soil my reputation is quite a stretch. Following the logic of your argument, it could be said that you "keep company" with every individual that has represented themselves to District Council over the past 10 years and that the statements of a few people who have misrepresented information to council reflect negatively on your reputation. I do not think this is a reasonable argument.
Following from that, the link you have drawn between the forum content on NSMB.com, the "senior members" of the NSMBA (previously including myself) and the personal attacks against you and Monica is painting with a very broad brush. I worked hard to promote a culture of respect during my time with the NSMBA and am disappointed that some individuals continue to treat you in a disrespectful way. None of us deserve to be treated in that way.
I respect Monica's opinions but disagree on the approach and solution. While some of Monica's public letters make fact based arguments, others use a broad brush to paint all people that ride a mountain bike on Fromme as "wheeled locusts, wily scofflaws and trail abusers" and the volunteers who maintain trails as "critters and ecological vandals." I've cited an example on this blog of an unprovoked anonymous personal attack against other users. If we put a hundred times more users in this forum and I started calling them names, I'd expect some of them would start calling names back. While it is unfortunate and hurtful for all involved, if that situation were to occur here I think it would be unfair for me to come to you Lyle (being an active user in this forum) and say what you have concluded about me based on your experience from the public forums on NSMB.com. What would be fair is to speak to the owner of the site and ask them to remove any hateful remarks from the public realm.
I am pleased to think that we have avoided that negativity and had a civil discussion here, even though we disagree. We haven't really discussed your opinion of my "single-issue" but we have the next four years to work on that. It may be (and please correct and elaborate if I am incorrect) that because you and Monica have been abused by mountain bikers, and that I ride a mountain bike and was the face of an organization that builds and maintains mountain bike trails, that there is a strong association between the feelings of anger and hurt that you may feel and my new role as a municipal politician. The one positive I can see in this is that we do not actually know each other, having never previously corresponded and only meeting face to face for the first time at the election results announcement on Nov 15th. As you said, there is a lot of healing that has to happen and maybe my new role can help to facilitate that process. I would consider the next four years as an opportunity to get to know each other (beyond what is posted on the internet). Although we will disagree, at least we may be able to develop some level of mutual respect.
Dear Mr. Bond. Thank you for taking the time to express your point of view. As a public person it is important for the electorate to have access to your opinion as your vote has an impact upon the voters.
For those not in authority and without political ambitions Anon is sufficient.
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