Capitol Theatre Summer Youth Musical Production
Directed by Alison Girvan and Laura Metcalfe, Choreography by Lynette Lightfoot, Set Design by Murrey Kimber
Tickets:
Adults: $15.00
Student: $10.00
Family of 4: $45.00
Capitol Theatre Box Office Hours are from noon to 4:30 Tuesday through
Friday, and one hour before performances. Charge by phone! Call 250-352-6363
during Box Office Hours.
Come see our house teams battle it out on the track at the Carnival of Carnage. With 50% of the profits being donated to West Kootenay Habitat for Humanity, you watch a great game and help build something amazing for your community.
Dam City Rollers (Caslegar) take on the Lumber Jackies (Nelson), then the Killjoys (Nelson) take to the track against the Babes of Brutality (Salmo).
Adult tickets $10 in advance, $15 at the door. Children (ages 10 and under) $2 at the door (no advance tickets available).
You can purchase tickets online at kootenayrollerderby.com or at the following locations:
* Phat Angel (495 Baker St, Nelson)
* MountainHigh Lighting Designs (301- 11th Ave, Castlegar)
* RossVegas Board Shop (2105 Columbia Ave, Rossland)
* Gerick Cycle and Sports (930 Rossland Ave, Trail)
* West Kootenay Scuba (223 Railway Ave, Salmo)
Presented by Harmony Farm Music
Listening to Brockley’s writing and guitar style, it’s no suprise he lists his major guitar influence as Mississippi John Hurt, and his favourite songs from folks like Townes Van Zandt, Hank Williams, Bob Dylan, and Woody Guthrie. Add to that Leon Power’s love for Levon Helm and Kevin Bertram’s obsession with the Wood Brothers and James Brown, put them in a wood-panelled station wagon and you have the truly infectious Steve Brockley experience.
I interviewed Steve about the show. He will be on Kootenay Co-op Radio Thursday at 3 p.m and Friday at 1 p.m Please tune in.
$10 – $15
RADIO CAMP IS BACK!!!
When: July 25-29, Aug. 15-19, Aug. 22-26
Ages: 9-12
Cost: $125 for members, $150 for non-members
Where: Kootenay Co-operative Radio
Drop Off Time: between 9:30am-10:00am
Pick Up Time: between 3:00pm and 3:30pm
Kids Are Taking Over the Airwaves! Starring in Their Own Radio Show!Kootenay Co-operative Radio is excited to offer the fourth annual Summer Youth Radio Camp! Campers will hang out at the station and receive fun, hands-on activities that teach them about the wonderful world of community radio, as well as how to produce a high-quality radio show! Join us for a truly unique camp experience this summer. KCR’s Radio Camp is the only camp in Nelson that teaches kids between the ages of 9 and 12 how to be a real live radio star!
What are your plans for Canada Day? If you’re planning on heading down to the Lakeside Park for some family-friendly celebrations, make sure to look for Oxygen Art Centre’s booth! We are preparing fun activities for children and anyone is welcome to join in! We will also have information about our Summer Art Camp, so please feel free to bring along anyone who might be interested in our programs.
Just a friendly reminder that Eryn Prospero is having a Summer Studio Sale tomorrow afternoon. 
Stop by for a cool drink and take a peek at some of her new work for sale. Mugs, bowls, plates, teapots, and more!!!
She will also be at this Saturday Cottonwood Market, and at the Frog Peak Market this Sunday.
Hope to see you!
The rest of the Kerr walls came down this weekend and Herb Couch was on hand with a camera to capture the demolition of the 100-year-old building.
Do you have photos of the demolition? Send them to news@inthekoots.net and they’ll be added to the record.
Photo source: dkpto, Flickr, Creative Commons.
For those who use the internet in downtown Nelson, the last week has been a frustrating one, for the Nelson Post included. It’s hard to run a website when you can’t connect to said website.
I spoke with Shaw, our internet provider, yesterday and was told they replaced two pieces of equipment yesterday and they’re now monitoring the situation.
Keep your fingers crossed.
This post is a live blog of the Monday, June 27 City of Nelson committee of the whole meeting.
A live blog is an ongoing account of the council meeting. Hit refresh on your web browser to see the latest information.
To see background on tonight’s agenda see this post.
To download a copy of the agenda, click this link.
7 p.m.
In attendance tonight we have councillors Deb Kozak, Marg Stacey, Donna Macdonald, Robin Cherbo, Bob Adams, Kim Charlesworth and Mayor John Dooley.
From staff there is Kevin Cormack, city manager, and Frances Long, manager of legislative and administrative services.
There’s a small audience tonight, mostly presenters on the agenda. From the media there’s myself, Bob Hall of the Nelson Star and Glenn Hicks from Mountain FM.
Charlesworth chairs this meeting and asks if there’s anyone not on the agenda who wants to address council.
There is a spiel Charlesworth has to read which basically limits speakers to five minutes and asks people to keep to topics of a broad public interest, not personal issues.
Pam St. Thomas, 716 Carbonate St., wants some clarification on parking down by Lakeside Rotary Park. She was asked to move her car from a driveway by the police. The parking on the 800 block of Second Street has changed over the years.
St. Thomas says there’s people claiming some on-street parking that doesn’t make sense for the area. There’s also a lack of proper signage (like paint on the curb) or appropriate curbs.
There’s a brief discussion and council then suggest St. Thomas seek the Public Works Department for clarification on that area.
Christina Yahn is here to talk about bees in cities.
She doesn’t have any bees with her, which is a bit of a disappointment. There’s some great photos on the screen, however, and you’ll have to imagine a gentle buzz in the background of this section of the talk.
Yahn says we’ve had a symbiotic relationship with bees, responsible for pollinating many of the crops we eat.
In the last five years we’ve lost 80 per cent of the world’s honeybees, Yahn says.
Urban bees are healthier than country bees, she says. They deal with less pesticides and have access to greater varieties of pollen.
They’re allowed in Vancouver, Richmond, Calgary, London, Dublin, Hong Kong, just to name a few.
There are simple steps to have healthy bees and happy neighbours, Yahn says.
They deal with awareness of flight paths, water availability and more.
She’d like Nelson’s honeybee bylaw amended to allow them.
“I’d like to thank you for listening to me and please give bees a chance,” she finishes to the applause of most of the crowd.
Cherbo says he thinks it’s a great idea but he’s concerned about attracting bears and how they’d address that. Yahn says it’s not like a hive would bring droves of bees. There’s options to have the hives on platforms higher than bears can reach.
By approaching it properly we can reduce attracting them, she says.
Macdonald asks if most backyard bee keepers would be doing it themselves. She imagines it would be a difficult thing to learn.
Yahn says there’s a learning curve to keeping bees. She doubts people will go out and get bees without first learning what to do. Yahn says there’s an adopt-a-hive initiative where people can sponsor resident hives that would live on a farmer’s property. Those bees are just for pollination, not honey.
Cherbo asks about how the bees would interact with other pests, like wasps.
Wasps are a problem, she admits, but they’re a problem for everyone. Wild bees and honey bees don’t seem to overlap in their working times, she says.
Dooley asks if there’s a shortage of bees in Nelson itself. Yahn says the Kootenay region lost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of bees in the Kootenays. It was a difficult year for bee keepers.
Dave Johnson (Johnston?) lives in Harrop and keeps about 50 hives out there. He now steps up to speak in favour of Yahn’s proposal.
He grew up in Nelson and he remembers people keeping bees in the city, including his parents. He doesn’t recall people having problems, unless there was a swarm, in which case his parents would help capture the swarm and then the lady would have two hives.
Johnson says honeybees aren’t as aggressive as wasps.
“I did notice Nelson’s city hall has a flat roof, as does the city hall in Vancouver and they have two hives up there.” Councillors laugh at his suggestion they have hives on the city hall.
“The city could become a pretty sweet place,” says Dooley.
Cherbo asks about clarification about swarming. It happens when a hive is fully populated and has enough food to fuel the majority of bees which then take off and create a new hive.
Dooley asks if they could use a city park for bees. Johnson says maybe, but it depends on what’s available for them.
Kozak says it’s an interesting idea and timely given the need for food security. She’d like staff to add it to their list of bylaws to review and staff say it already is.
7:27 p.m.
Macdonald asks if staff want any direction from council right now.
Cormack says staff would prefer to bring it forward at the next regular council meeting where they could vote on it.
Terry Lund and his daughter Angela Lund will talk to council about their children’s book “Let’s Plant a Flower.”
This is their first book of a series.
Dooley says he asked them to talk to council because their book fits in with the city’s sustainability efforts.
7:42 p.m.
Simon Grypma, chief of Nelson’s fire department, is joined by Scott Jeffery, one of his firefighters, with experience with geography and forestry firefighting.
The fire chief says he could have brought 12 of his guys to the meeting who have all contributed expertise to the city’s plans to preventing a forest fire from spreading into the city.
Their first slide of the presentation shows one Nelson home with firewood stacked against the building. That’s the before. The after shot shows the wood cleared out.
All that firewood was a tremendous risk to the house, easy fuel that could have started something serious.
It’s an important issue, says Grypma. The city’s consultant says Nelson is one of the at risk to wildfire communities in the province because of the geography and size of the population.
The fire department has added sprinkler units that can be sent to homes at the perimeter of city. Grypma says he’d love it if homeowners took the initiative to create their own sprinkler units and the fire department would be happy to show people how to do it.
The fire department has also been reducing fuel load in the surrounding woods. They’ve cleaned 25 hectares.
“The work that we were able to do is a showcase of what we’d like homeowners to do,” says the fire chief. “And it looks nice!”
Jeffery shows a slide of Art Gibbon Park in Rosemont. The before shot shows red needles from Mountain Pine Beetle-damaged trees, and a lot of fuel on the ground. The after shot shows a much cleaned up forest and Jeffery says it’s much safer.
Cherbo says there used to be people squatting in the park and he asks if the more open nature of the woods has changed it. Geoffry says yes and in fact a large boulder in the park has become a bouldering spot for local climbers where it used to be a party spot.
8:02 p.m.
They also talk about the backyard burn period. From May 10 to May 31 they had 15 days safe to burn and issued 45 permits for a total 80 burns. There were two complaints that were dealt with promptly, says Jeffery.
It generated $450 in permits and that money will be used to create education on alternative methods of dealing with backyard waste, says Grypma.
You fix one problem and it creates a larger problem, says Grypma.
They had icicles 12 feet long and they used to have to break them off with a pike pole, says the fire chief. They had put electrical de-icers that was melting the snow and the dripping lead to a lot of water damage on the masonry on the building.
The renovations weren’t just about improving insulation, says Grypma.
They used to have a single shower stall that all firefighters used. “Not all at once,” says Grypma, grinning at council.
They’ve also fixed a serious leak in the fire hall (one room was called the Niagra Suite for all the water that came in).
Our budget for the fire hall renovations was under budget by $40,000. (Applause from a few councillors.)
Cherbo asks if someone puts a new roof on their home can they have the sprinkler built in? Yes, says Grypma. In fact, one of his buddies did just that on his advice.
8:15 p.m.
And they adjourn the meeting.
This post is a live blog of the special council meeting on Monday, June 27.
See this post for background on this afternoon’s meeting. The main issue is the matter of Nelson Transit and whether to reduce service to balance the budget, which has a $128,000 deficit.
4:27 p.m.
In attendance today we have councillors Donna Macdonald, Bob Adams, Deb Kozak, Kim Charlesworth, Robin Cherbo and Marg Stacey.
From staff is Kevin Cormack, city manager, Rodi Devuono, the city’s garage and transit superintendent and Kevin Schubert, regional transit manager from BC Transit.
From the media we have myself and Bob Hall of the Nelson Star. Hall is the editor of the Star and there’s much comment about seeing him at council, covering a temporary staff shortage while his new reporter moves to town.
The French association in Nelson wants the city’s to write a letter of support for their application to add a temporary staffer to improve their communication tools and promote their 25th anniversary celebration.
Coun. Donna Macdonald asks if the city has a policy on how to handle requests for letters of support, especially if there are competing community groups.
Cormack says there’s no consistent policy but they try to support groups in reaching their goals.
Macdonald says she doesn’t know of any other Nelson group applying for these funds, which are from the Columbia Basin Trust.
Council approves the request.
Just before that vote Mayor John Dooley joined the meeting.
4:38 p.m.
Coun. Kim Charlesworth, who’s chairing the meeting, reads through the city staff report, which lays out the problems. See the earlier post (linked to above) for the background.
Along with the requested reduction in service, there’s a review of Nelson Transit underway, expected to be due in late fall 2011.
They’re going to move through the recommendations one at a time.
First they accept the Nelson Transit Review.
The review has not been provided to the media yet.
There’s something about a hub location.
Macdonald has extreme reservations about reducing bus service along Crease and Richards. That route supports low-income housing and seniors residences.
Why is that still being cut in the report, she asks.
I just noticed Tim Schafer, from the Nelson Daily, sitting at the back of the room. That’s all the media.
Cormack says that’s a starting point for the city and they’ll move from here.
Macdonald says her sense is the Richards route is highly used but the staff report suggests eliminating that route. We don’t have the information, she says.
It’s quite a radical change in approach to transit and we’ll have some interesting discussions with the community moving forward, Macdonald says.
Charlesworth says the details of changes to public transit will be ironed out in consultation with the community.
Dooley says with the RDCK they’re also looking to reduce waste in the transit system. He wants to know how that regional look will be incorporated into the public consultation.
Cormack says that’s why they’re also recommending there be a presentation on the Nelson plan and the regional plan.
Council votes to accept the report.
Charlesworth suggests the skip recommendation two (which deals with specific short-term cuts to service) for the moment.
Council agrees and approves the recommendation to direct staff to work with BC Transit and the RDCK.
They next go to the recommendation to:
That Council request that BC Transit present both the Nelson and regional service review recommendations to the public during 2011/2012 with the goal of implementing these new routes in late 2012 or early 2013.
Dooley says he’s concerned 2013 is too far away and would like to see it done by 2012.
Cormack notes there’s an election between now and then and the next council and RDCK board could have different priorities.
Dooley says they’re trying to stop the financial bleeding from Nelson Transit that’s costing Nelson taxpayers money and he wants to see things change faster.
Cormack says they won’t see the regional plan until late fall of 2011 which is why they’re working to tweak the current system before they can look at a larger-scale change to transit.
4:54 p.m.
Dooley asks Cormack what strategy staff have to reduce some of the money loss. That’s the items in the second recommendation (skipped earlier by Charlesworth) which they’ll look at next, says Cormack.
Charlesworth asks if council wants to change the wording to have staff have the report done by 2012.
Macdonald says it’s up to them, the elected official to ensure this report is done in 2012.
Kozak moves they amend the recommendation to take out reference to 2013, preferring the report be done earlier.
Cherbo suggests they have a new council so they shouldn’t pass this amendment. His argument falls on deaf ears and council says they should have it by 2012.
Next they go on to:
That Council request that BC Transit complete a full feasibility study on creating a downtown transit exchange on Victoria Street between Stanley Street and Ward Street.
Stacey is opposed to having a transit exchange on Victoria Street in that area.
Cherbo says there’s a hardship for people to move the exchange up from Ward and Baker Street, especially for seniors or handicapped people.
Stacey says she’s worried about idling affecting the Capitol Theatre and physical interference with business delivery (equipment and other items) to the theatre. She also doesn’t want exhaust going up to the Oso Negro patio.
She’d like to see the exchange go between Stanley and Kootenay streets, further down Victoria.
5:05 p.m.
Macdonald moves staff consider both locations, stretching from Kootenay Street to Ward Street..
Adams says they should leave the exchange where it is, or perhaps in front of the Capitol Theatre. The Capitol is the only business on that street, he says. Anywhere else would have too much of an impact.
He asks how many buses they’d have.
Devuono says they’d have buses there two or three times a day.
Stacey says it’s too much and she’s worried about seniors having access to the theatre.
Cherbo comes back to the access issues for seniors and people with disabilities.
Kozak suggests the whole of Victoria Street be considered in the feasibility study. Maybe it could be elsewhere in the downtown, she suggests.
Dooley says they should open up the discussion to the two-block spread to get all the options out for the community to consider.
Council approves the amendment to include both blocks and now they approve the motion to have a feasibility study for those two blocks on Victoria.
“That was supposed to be the easy part,” says Charlesworth.
Now they move onto the issues to remove service.
Cormack updates them on transit revenue.
Fare increase didn’t happen until May 1, but they’re on target for their revenue numbers prior to that. Revenue is up. If we stay on that same pathway we should realize our transit fare revenue predictions, says Cormack.
They’re still going to run a deficit.
The fares were just going to cover $28,000 of the $128,000 deficit, he says.
The bigger problem is parking meter revenue. It wasn’t implemented until April and is lower than anticipated. He might be because people are being more careful with their time.
He’s projecting a best case $100,000 to $110,000 short on the parking meter revenue. They had projected a $300,000 increase in parking meter revenue, $100,000 of that was to go to Nelson Transit. The remaining $200,000 was to go elsewhere.
1) No Sunday service – $31,000 a year. $13,000 in 2011.
2) No service for Perrier Road – between $7,500 and $14,000 a year. $2,500 to $4,500 in 2011
3) No service for Crease and Richards – between $21,000 and $27,500 a year. $7,000 to $9,200 in 2011
4) No school specific service – $21,000 a year. $6,700 in 2011
5) Lower summer service – $31,000 a year. No impact in 2011.
There are different numbers for the yearly impact and 2011 because the changes would take effect in August or September.
Schubert, from BC Transit, says the cut to Sunday service would have the least impact on the transit service. Reducing summer service would also have less impact.
Cherbo wants council to go to the public before making these changes. He wants feedback before they make changes. What if we get some kickback and have to change them back, he asks.
Charlesworth notes they’re the only system in the Kootenays that provides Sunday service right now. There is no plan to implement Sunday service in any of the other areas at this point and time.
Dooley says there’s a few flaws in the staff report. They can look at transit as a social aspect, in which case they could provide service to every street, but they need to look at the numbers.
The cost of operating the system increased $128,000 in 2010 and is expected to go from $220,000 in 2008 to $400,000 in 2011.
The savings they’re going to realize with these proposed cuts aren’t much, but they need to start looking at these, he says.
“That’s our responsibility by being here at the table,” says Dooley.
He really wants people to understand transit will cost $400,000 in 2011.
“From my perspective, we cannot continue to offer what we have in the past,” Dooley says.
Macdonald says she agrees with the mayor and that’s why they’ve been working with BC Transit over the past couple of months. The long-term changes proposed (in the report they accepted earlier) are a radical change and they’ll have to talk with the public about it.
“We want to have good transit. We’ve had it for over a hundred years and we’ll need it in the future,” says Macdonald.
Cherbo says they have to go to the public before they make these decisions. Maybe the public want a one per cent tax increase instead of transit service cuts.
“I feel we’re throwing darts in the dark here,” Cherbo says.
The cut is approved by all except Cherbo.
Macdonald says all these cuts are done with reservations but this service is outside the city limits and so it makes sense. “If we’re making service reductions outside the city limits this makes sense.”
Part of the Perrier Road service is outside city limits. Someday, beyond the next few years, there could be a rural bus service.
5:32 p.m.
Stacey says they’ve put out to the public that their biggest problem in the budget was transit and they’re going to correct it. So here we are, correcting it, she says.
People aren’t going to be surprised, she says.
The cut is approved by all except Cherbo.
This item was reopened later on, see below.
Macdonald moves they delay this option until they have better data on usage and possible options for removing that area.
She’s seconded by Cherbo and Adams puts his hand as well.
Cormack says they could have more information. Dooley says they could delay this for every motion.
There’s service for the seniors like the Handy Dart, he says. There’s still a bus route a block and half away from those streets, to Silverking campus.
Kozak asks if Dooley is right. Staff say it could be more, up to four blocks. If you’re in the housing near the college you have to walk down to West Innes to catch a bus.
Macdonald says she’s concerned about this option because of the density of people in the area and the nature of people living there: low-income residents and seniors.
This item is deferred. Kozak, Adams, Macdonald and Cherbo vote to defer this decision. Stacey and Dooley vote against it. I missed Charlesworth’s vote.
This includes the overload routes when some students can’t get on a transit bus and Waldorf school.
It won’t affect the North Shore route.
Schubert says this could positively affect their fleet requirements.
Macdonald asks what about the students who get left behind? They’ll have to catch the next bus, a 30 minute wait for most routes.
Stacey puts a positive spin out, suggesting students can explore more extracurricular activities.
This cut is approved by all councillors.
It takes six to eight weeks to develop a route schedule and print it so they can’t do this for this summer, says Schubert from BC Transit.
In the course of answering this question, Schubert says something that suggests BC Transit doesn’t think removing the Perrier Road service is a good idea. Charlesworth asks if that’s actually BC Transit’s perspective and Schubert confirms that.
Council moves on and now they vote on reducing summer service next year.
Cherbo asks what that means. Schubert says they’ll reduce the frequency of the bus routes, going from every 30 minutes to every 45 minutes or hour.
Now it appears they’ll have to reprint the riders guide and that could cost thousands of dollars. It’s normally printed in January but with all these reductions, that will happen this year. Nelson would have to cover the cost of the riders guide.
The cut is approved.
They’re revisiting this item because of the associated costs to the riders guide. The other service cuts don’t need changes to the riders guide.
Macdonald moves they reconsider it, seconded by Cherbo. Stacey is the only one to vote against it.
They now vote on the motion again and defeat it.
Dooley says they should include Crease and Richards as well.
Macdonald moves they eliminate Perrier Road Jan. 1, 2012 (to coincide with the new riders guide).
The cut on January 2012 is approved.
The special meeting is adjourned.
Back in an hour for the regular committee of the whole meeting.
After the meeting I picked up a copy of the Nelson Service Review report on Nelson Transit and will have more on that later this week.
6:02 p.m.
