The Davis Bay sea walk is saved, the Pacific Spirit development is receiving positive early reviews, Gospel Rock is just inches away from having a land-use plan, and the Sunshine Coast Regional District is hard at work finding innovative new ways to delay ever making a decision on recycling.
Remember these things. You're going to be hearing more and more about them the farther and farther they get into the past. Why? As of last weekend, we are officially one year away from the 2011 local government elections.
But the small percentage of people who show up to vote in local government elections tend to have a long memory. It's the rest who may choose to exercise their democratic right to have a say in government who need to start paying attention now, because election years tend to get, well, funny.
Sitting and prospective politicians are now more likely to start playing a long game. A notice to said current and possible politicians: keep the shenanigans to a minimum. You still have constituents counting on you working your honest best for the community as a whole. No one likes dirty tricks. They also make for longer hours for already overworked journalists.
Also on the radar is a promise made by the Campbell government (which is now almost an oxymoronic term) that we would have a set of brand new local government election laws in place before the next election. Last time I looked in on the matter, we were expecting the legislation to be introduced this spring.
Key provisions we are expecting include: placing expense limits on local election campaign participants, requiring registration and disclosure by third party advertisers, requiring sponsorship information on all election advertising, making campaign finance disclosure statements available earlier and in an electronically searchable form, changing local government terms from three years to four, establishing a key role for Elections BC in enforcement of local campaign finance rules and establishing a separate act for local campaign finance rules.
But it seems the only thing going on in Victoria these days is a competition between the Liberals and New Democrats to see who can put on the goriest show of self-cannibalization. This past weekend was a good show by the NDP, but the Liberals are still winning in the race to the bottom.
We haven't seen the details of the elections' bill, but the ideas so far are good.
I have always been of the mind that serving in local government ought to be a way to give back to the community - not a way to wield power or advance personal agendas or reap glory and certainly not, as our local government members can tell you, a way to collect hefty stipends.
The meetings are long (I know, I'm at most of them), you may find yourself in the middle of a decades-old dispute with both sides shouting to be heard (I know, they shout at me, too) and sometimes you have to be the bearer of bad news (I know, it's my job to report it).
But from my perspective in having covered our local governments since the weeks following the 2008 election, I know there are people who can see through the challenges and are willing and able to step up for the right reasons.
And in the meantime, prick up your ears and stay critical. Things could get, well, funny.
