This week in The Broken Typewriter
BC Housing vacancies triple city’s average; Flocks find friend on council
It’s the BC Day Long Weekend, and we’re basically halfway through summer. Barely a month until school starts up again . . . and Canadian Tire in Fort St. John is already putting out the Halloween decorations! Yes, Halloween – and I was thinking of planting some more veggies that will enjoy the cool weather that’s coming!
Some interesting things happened in the North Peace this week, and this weekend’s events had virtually something for everyone. I was able to attend the World’s Invitational Gold Panning Championships this weekend, and saw our new MLA pan for gold for the first time! Other events around the region were the FSJ Airshow, featuring the Canadian Forces Snowbirds, and the Doig River Rodeo.
The top news story this week in The Broken Typewriter was City Council’s revelation that it had to put in a Freedom of Information request to BC Housing to learn the vacancy rate for the community.
BC Housing’s vacancies in Fort St. John are more than three times the average for the community. Councillor Trevor Bolin believes that filling these vacancies would have an immediate, positive impact on the community.
Bolin cited a recent report from BC Housing that shows it is currently operating at a 15 percent vacancy rate in Fort St. John. The average is currently 4.8 percent.
“They’re substantially running vacancies,” he said.
Read More: BC Housing vacancies triple FSJ’s average rate
Backyard flocks are back on the table at Fort St. John city council, after Councillor Jim Lequiere brought forward a Notice of Motion to ask staff to research local providers for abandoned or hurt backyard hens and fowl.
Allowing backyard chickens in Fort St. John is once again on the front burner as Councillor Jim Lequiere brought forward a Notice of Motion to investigate the issue at Monday’s council meeting.
“Throughout the province of BC there’s quite a few cities and municipalities that have backyard chickens. To have the best for our citizens, we should look into it and see,” Lequiere said.
Lequiere brought up the subject as a Notice of Motion during the regular council meeting, with the suggestion that council invite a presentation from the North Peace SPCA on what the organization can do to house backyard chickens and fowl, if they’re abandoned or injured.
Read More: Urban flocks find friend on FSJ council
This week in Smart Money, Brad draws parallels between learning golf from a magazine and learning about financial planning the same way. Like golf magazines, financial magazines offer a lot of strategies and tips, but they can’t take the place of financial planners who know what they’re talking about.
But you know what my real problem is? It isn’t my grip, and it isn’t the club face at the top of my swing. My real problem is that I don’t know what I don’t know.
I played a little of that virtual golf this winter, and one of the cool parts about it is that you can see a video of your golf swing. I’ve never seen my own golf swing before. I have this mental image of my swing as being graceful, balanced and powerful. But the swing that I see in my head looks nothing at all like the swing that I see on the video.
So, after reading the golf magazine, do you think I am a better golfer?
Nope, my game hasn’t changed one bit. I’m not even sure that a person can learn how to golf from a magazine. Sure, I might pick up some useful tips, but how can a golf magazine know what I need?
There is a lot of information out there, but how do I know which information is right for me?
Read More: SMART MONEY: Learning golf from a magazine
Taylor Mayor & wife awarded King’s Coronation Medal
During the World’s Invitational Gold Panning Championships in Taylor on Saturday, Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies MP Bob Zimmer awarded Taylor Mayor Brent Taillefer and his wife Sheena King’s Coronation Medals in recognition of their unwavering dedication to making things better for their community through a long history of volunteering.
