THURSDAY
S I N C E
OCTOBER 10, 2013
1 8 9 5 Kate Shaw dancers in Castlegar
Vol. 118, Issue 160
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PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF ROSSLAND, WARFIELD, TRAIL, MONTROSE, FRUITVALE & SALMO
Plan reveals challenges for Trail recreation
SENSIBLE BC
Campaign slow to get rolling locally BY ART HARRISON Times Staff
BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
A 10-year plan that describes how the City of Trail can face the challenge to maintain and improve recreation facilities, parks and open spaces was revealed to the public Tuesday night. For the most part, the draft copy of the Trail Parks and Recreation Master Plan is receiving positive nods, but the public has two more weeks to guide recommendations for the final report. “The next phase is feedback,” said Trisha Davison, Trail’s director of parks and recreation. “People are welcome to read the document and comment on what needs to be added, modified or deleted before the final version is crafted and given to council for consideration.” Although there are no surprises in the 208page plan that can be viewed on the city’s website, a key learning issue that was identified is the lack of a skateboard park in the Silver City. Further, the plan recommends a short term timeline for the city to take a more proactive role in the development of an outdoor skatepark. “This is really good news for our SkatePark committee because it highlights what we’ve known all along,” said Patrick Audet, committee member. “Which is the need for suitable recreation for our young people besides organized sports in Trail.” Another key point is that the city’s existing facilities are being under utilized, with the Trail Memorial Centre topping the list. The report provides a detailed history of the centre and identifies a short term goal to rebrand and retrofit the facility to significantly increase its use. The iconic city landmark is part of the social fabric of the community, but is dated, underutilized and unsuited to many current and projected future community needs, according to the plan. Change is necessary to ensure its sustainability, continues the report. Another issue the master plan addresses is the Trail Resident Pass (TRP). Until a few years ago, all municipal jurisdictions surrounding Trail contributed to the regional recreation services provided within Trail with tax contributions through the regional district. See PLAN, Page 3
SHERI REGNIER PHOTO
Martine Oosting will be running “Little Readers and Sneakers,” a new children’s program at the library this month.
Libraries celebrated in October BY SHERI REGNIER Times Staff
The library isn’t just for checking out books anymore. With the province proclaiming October “Library Month in British Columbia,” Barbara Gibson. Trail and District Public Library board chair, offered a few statistics. “At the end of August, we had for the year, 900 new resident card holder registrations,” she said. “In all of 2012, we did 358.” Although Gibson didn’t attribute the spike in users to a particular section of the population, she said those numbers make it easy to stress “the city’s need for the library.” “When people say that no one is visiting the library, I say tell that to the residents of Trail,” chuckled Gibson. “Residents are signing up in bigger numbers
“ I want to know more about mutual funds.”
than ever before.” This year’s theme to library month, is “Libraries Connect,” which is very fitting considering the Trail library’s recorded Internet (web-based) usage, which exceeded 18,500 views in August, said Gibson. “E-services are really big in our library as well,” she explained. “You can sit at home and pick out the books you want to read and download them. You never have to leave your house, but you do need a library card.” Aside from computer-based resources, the Trail library continues to reach out face-to-face with the community through children and adult programming, held in-house or at venues such as daycares and elementary schools and senior care facilities. See NEW, Page 3
With less than two months left in the Sensible BC campaign for a marijuana referendum, canvassers will be finally showing a visible presence in the Greater Trail area Saturday collecting signatures in Waneta Plaza. Although the local campaign got off to a slow start, Kootenay West campaign organizer, Susan Yurychuk, says things are starting to finally come together. “Things are looking much better, we’re getting more organized,” said Yurychuk. “We started a little slow but we’re up to about 30 canvassers now and we’re getting more as we go.” Canvassers will have a table set up with petitions available to sign at Waneta Plaza in Trail, Saturday, from noon to 3 p.m. and again on Oct. 18 and 26. Yurychuk says the response has generally been positive but the number of signatures for this area is still behind what is needed to make up the required 10 per cent in each electoral district in the province. “We’re a little under 1,500 for our area and we need 5,000 so we’ve got a ways to go,” said Yurychuk. “We don’t have a large population but there are wide areas to cover and we need more canvassers, we need to get places in all the small towns, small businesses seem to work the best.” Provincially, the campaign appears to be on a similar track having only garnered approximately 15 per cent of the necessary signatures. However, provincial campaign organizer, Dana Larsen, believes that everything is on track for a successful campaign. “We’re chugging along, we’re up to 3,000 canvassers and we only had 1,800 at the start,” Larsen said from Vancouver. “It’s hard to estimate but we’re around 60,000 signatures. I think that’s in range to make it by the deadline.” On the local front, Yurychuk stressed the need for registered canvassers and voiced some concern that some people didn’t understand the legal process. “People have to register with Elections B.C. to gather signatures,” she said. “You can’t collect signatures without that. People see the petition online and print it off and go out on their own. If they’re not registered the signatures will be thrown out.” Anyone interested in canvassing for the Sensible BC or want to donate can find more information at sensiblebc.ca and can find more information on the local campaign on Facebook on the Sensible BC Kootenay West page.
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