On February 10, 2020, the Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) posted a notice, on the Tideline, about the installation of new rails along the trail at Mansons Spit. They also invited local residents to a broom bash on the Spit, Saturday, March 28th, 10am- 1pm. According to Executive Director Helen Hall, FOCI started maintaining Cortes Island parks twenty years ago.
Continue reading FOCI: Maintaining Cortes Island Parks For 20 YearsTag Archives: Noba Anderson
Cortes Ferry Passengers Speak To MLA Trevena
On Friday February 28th at 2:30pm, over 40 Cortes residents gathered at Whaletown Community Hall for a meeting with Minister of Transportation Claire Trevena, to discuss the future of BC Ferries. Ms Trevena had travelled to Cortes Island to gather public input as part of Phase 2 of the Ministry’s “public engagement” project which began last Fall. (Article includes this link to an online survey for ferry users.)
Continue reading Cortes Ferry Passengers Speak To MLA Trevena
Thank-you SRD, But There Is Currently No One To Negotiate With You
The opinions expressed in this report are my own and not necessarily shared by any organization, or committee, I belong to.
It has been more than a year since 14 disgruntled Cortes residents attempted to change the outcome of the 2018 election with a lawsuit that the Supreme Court of British Columbia eventually dismissed as having “no basis.” Now at least one of the former plaintiffs has joined a group of anonymous Cortes residents who informed the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board of an alleged secession plot. Twenty minutes of the board’s Feb 26, 2020, meeting was consumed with this nonsense. Kudos to Chair Michele Babchuk and the other Directors who recognized it as such. However the suggestion that SRD receive a delegation, or have staff look into ways to help Cortes find a more democratic form of local government, is premature. There is currently no one to negotiate with them.
Continue reading Thank-you SRD, But There Is Currently No One To Negotiate With You
Hornby Island’s Style Of Government
Hornby Island has roughly the same number of inhabitants as Cortes Island. They have similar problems with volunteer burn-out, partisanship on public issues, disruptive personalities, and gossip. Reina LeBaron, Hornby Island Residents and Ratepayers Association’s (HIRRA) Administrator, said this is usual in small communities. Some disgruntled Hornby residents even complained to their Regional Director, but the discontent has not festered on Hornby, like it has on Cortes. To some extent I suspect this may be because of Hornby Island’s style of government.
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Local Governance Alternatives Discussed
About forty Cortes Islanders attended a public meeting on February 15th at Manson’s Hall, to discuss local governance models and alternatives. The meeting was announced in Regional Director Noba Anderson’s article “Seeding Community Council: Hornby and Cortes” which appeared in Tideline on February 2nd; it was co-hosted (with introductory remarks) by Director Anderson and moderator Kristen Scholfield-Sweet. Folk U co-sponsored the event. While some were disappointed in their expectations of a much larger turnout (“I thought the hall would be full!”) others pointed out that many people are still engaged in the ongoing search for missing island youth Miles Meester.
Continue reading Local Governance Alternatives DiscussedWe have a regional district system that, by its very nature, regardless of the people involved, leaves decisions off-island with a group of people that know little about our community.
— Regional Director for Cortes Island, Noba Anderson