Debating Vocal Local Trustee Laura Patrick - Alcyonenews

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Islands Trust

January 28, 2022

Debating Vocal Local Trustee Laura Patrick

In past years the SSI Trustees published year-change blurbs, bragging of feats done and promising new and bigger ones. In the 2021/22 year-change, one Trustee fell silent which may signal impending dropping out. The other Trustee published in the Driftwood two pieces (Jan 12 and 19).

Last I know, the Trust still calls itself “democratic government”. Debate is the blood stream of Democracy. The Press, the Fourth Estate, is the heart of Democracy for it pumps debate, keeping the blood-stream going ‘round and around. With that in mind I will debate Laura’s Patrick’s Christmas prose.

“On Salt Spring Island, it’s the local trust committee (locally elected trustees Peter Grove and myself, and the appointed chair Peter Luckham, trustee from Thetis) that regulates land use and development.” Laura wrote.

She refers to “appointed chair Peter Luckham”. She identifies neither who does the “appointing” nor the purpose of it, nor even the cost of this stupid scheme. As I have often reasoned during the past decade, this arrangement is an anachronism in this era of intense witch-hunting down remnants of colonialism. Laura would have earned her Trustee oats had she called spade-a-spade and referred to Luckham as the “coronial overseer”, which is precisely what he is.

I should also mention that Peter Grove owes us an accounting for his betrayal of SSI while serving on the fake-Trust “Decolonization Committee” ...

Laura “explains” the 2022/23 Budget, starting with their monumental decision to decrease “their” planned 5.16% tax increase by 0.28% to a “mere” 4.88% increase! She would have earned applause had she, instead, de-crypted the budget to reveal the cost of catapulting Colonial Overseers to LTCs tasked to control the “locally elected” Trustees; and the cost of the ConSultants the Trust hires on our penny to cover up for improper Trust conduct. The above exemplify the “waste” in the Budget, that which we want to know but the Trust wants to hide due to it being ugly.

Incidentally, Peter Grove, being the Chair of the Trust Financial Committee, should stand accountable for the Trust’s “creative accounting”, too.

Laura goes on to “Strategic Planning Initiatives”. It is not clear whether we should laugh or cry at the Trust asking “senior government” for the “same authority as municipalities have tree cutting bylaws” ... Does she not know that in 2017 SSI opted to endure the Trust only because the alterative “allowed” us was “urbanization”? Anyway, Laura tries to relax the opposition to the Trust becoming more Czarismatic by reassuring us that she will consult with the community before formulating any directions to staff” – scary stuff really ...

There are many more points in Laura’s articles but these I will hold in abeyance due to space limitations. I will close with Laura’s crescendo:

“Your input into local government decision-making is very important to me ...”

She chants this at least 12 times, like the advertisers who keep on repeating non-sense till they make us think it is horse-sense.

When she was new to the Trust, Laura enthusiastically espoused my request to usher in the Ideas Bank. A couple of weeks later she wrote me:

“I wanted to let you know that we did discuss your proposed motions about the ideas bank. I sincerely like the concept of an ideas bank to improve[sic] LTC’s community engagement. We are intrigued by the eDemocracy project being piloted through the climate action plan update. This is a made on Salt Spring product that might work like your ideas bank. I have requested a meeting with the developer and will get more information about the platform and launch with the climate action plan. I will let you know what I learn and I expect you will let me know your thoughts on the eDemocracy platform when you get the opportunity to interact with it.”

This was deja vu. Eight years earlier, then newly elected Trustee Peter Grove espoused too the Ideas Bank and took it to the Trust. Soon he came back and told me that the Trust was enamoured with “Place Speak” and would try that before considering the Ideas Bank.

Trust’s Place Speak and eDemocracy flopped. The Trust duped both Trustees identically, eight years apart, so as to evade the Ideas Bank – Because they know the Ideas Bank means “Open Governance” and this the Trust cannot take.

About Booth Canal, Laura is still mute ...

Au revoir

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Bits and Bites

VESPA - Take her for a Ride

Piaggio built Mussolini’s airforce and when WW2 ended was prohibited from building aircraft. Its idled engineers decided to try their hand at making motorcycles. Problem was that their minds and skills were aeronautic. Yet they plunged headlong into it. What they surfaced with didn’t threaten Harley Davidson. Their contraption was kind of a tiny airplane without wings, rolling on two small wheels. They called it “Vespa” which means “wasp” for its slim midriff.

Well, at first light the whole world fell in love with her and now, at the ripe age of 70, the love remains.

Incidentally, eventually Harley Davidson copy-catted the Vespa (“Topper 165" 1960-65)