Gordon Fuller

Further to my post about South End Representation and Gordon Fuller's running for city council I was in touch with Gord today. He was kind enough to email me some information about himself to facilitate anyone looking online in getting to know who he is and what he can offer the City of Nanaimo. I replied to him with the sentiment I share now: I think he would be an asset to the City of Nanaimo and I would be proud to live here if the changes he suggests are made. 

November 15th
Elect to Council

Gordon Fuller

Building Community

An Alternative to Vested Interests

In running for Council for the third time Gord believes he would bring a balanced perspective with both personal and professional experience around social issues as well as his involvement over the years with various community groups. A long time Social and Community activist Gord knows it is critical to recognise the importance of a healthy diverse economy in providing meaningful employment and the necessary tax base from which to run our fair city. “We need a strong advocate on council representing the interests of the South End, an advocate who also understands the issues in other areas of the city as well. There is much to be said for the Ward system as opposed to the at large. This becomes even more apparent when we consider South of the Hospital area has seen no elected representation for years.”

Gord is a third generation Nanaimoite, himself having lived in Nanaimo for the past 27 years most spent in the South End and Downtown areas. In 2002 he completed a degree in Child & Youth Care at Malaspina University/College while working full time as manager of Samaritan House Emergency Shelter. Gord is currently employed with Nanaimo Youth Services Association as coordinator of their 20 unit Youth Housing Complex.

Active in the community Gord Fuller is currently Co-Chair of the Nanaimo 7-10 Club Society, President of Friends of Plan Nanaimo, Vice President of the South End Community Association and Vice Chair of the Nanaimo Neighbourhood Netwerk. He is also an active participant on the Board of Citizens Advocacy as well as with the Downtown Nanaimo Partnership – Housing Design Development subcommittee, Working Group on Homeless Issues, Neighbours of Nob Hill, Nanaimo Old City Association and Mid Island Coalition for Strong Communities. Gord’s past community involvement has also been extensive including participation with the Nanaimo Crystal Meth Task Force, Nanaimo Alcohol and Drug Action Coalition, Working Group on Downtown Social Issues, Mental Health Advisory Council, City of Nanaimo Nuisance Property Committee, Nanaimo Social Development Strategy, S.A.F.E.R Downtown Nanaimo Project, Community Food Connection, Food Link Nanaimo, Action for Diversity Team and Nanaimo Food Share Society.

“I believe Nanaimo is a unique city that still has an opportunity to work collectively towards not repeating the mistakes other cities have made in the past. We need to focus on the preservation of Nanaimo’s heritage with development that works in harmony with the waterfront and mountain vistas, maintaining the unique character of neighbourhoods and the community, Citizen Driven and Not Developer Driven. Smart Growth not rapid growth should determine Nanaimo’s future.”

“We need to implement sustainable small-scale social programs that move away from the institutional and towards community integration. We must work towards Social Equality and the elimination of the endemic poverty that exists in Nanaimo. This process can be accomplished in part through innovative sustainable affordable housing options that do not place a greater burden on the already high taxes that exist in Nanaimo. It is imperative that we, as a community, recognize and value diversity and the potential of all citizens in contributing to make Nanaimo a vibrant and inclusive community.”

In keeping with a vision of a healthy community Gord believes, “we must look towards the environment both urban and rural. Initiatives towards green energy, environmental protection and public ownership of our drinking water must be given priority.”

Other Comments:

Parks: “ From recreational to Tot Lots we need to ensure all of Nanaimo’s Parks are safe from rezoning in the future.”

Water: “We need to ensure that privatization of water never comes up on the agenda of the municipality and Regional District. Nanaimo needs to look to the purchase of the watersheds surrounding our drinking water.”

Planning: “Nanaimo is fast becoming a laughing stock, among communities across Canada, when it comes to urban planning. We need to implement smart growth principals creating density within, rather than by expanding, the urban containment boundary.”

Development: “Neighbourhood involvement needs to be the first step for developers before taking their projects to the city for approval. “

Housing & Homelessness: “The City of Nanaimo must lobby provincial and federal levels of government to work with the municipality in the provision of affordable/social housing and other means to end homelessness and poverty in Nanaimo.”

Concentration of Social Services: “Most communities work from the adage that you put the services where the people are. This has tended to concentrate services in the downtown or bordering neighbourhoods and results in urban decay and the ghettoization of the community. Poverty is not located in any one area and as such we need to look at creating smaller scale services outside of the downtown areas. We need to move away from large scale all-in-one institutional settings.”  

Food Security/Policy: “The City of Nanaimo must adopt a food charter coordinating municipal strategy that will encourage greater support for local food producers as well as allowing for the development of community gardens that would help provide food security to those in need in Nanaimo.”

Conflict of Interest: “If there is even a remote chance of conflict or perceived conflict of interest councilors must make it known.”

Councilor behaviour at council meetings/public hearings: “The denigrating of people speaking to council must stop. All citizens coming before council must be treated with respect.”

City Council Terms of Office: “Too often this has become a career, many having sat on council for 25 years or more. I believe we need to limit the number of terms a person sits on council to 2 or 3 at the most. This would allow for a quicker turnover to fresh ideas and enthusiasm on the part of newly elected municipal officials.”

A strong believer in an open communication process you can feel free to contact Gord at:
Ph: 250 754 6389
e-mail: gorfathome@yahoo.ca

Bedside Challenge

I decided to take on the challenge that Dilling accepted recently here to post a photo of her night stand without cleaning or tidying it first. Thanks to CindyDianne for the challenge.

First off, I'm a little disgusted at the dust on and under my night stand. I'm going to tidy that up today!

So here it is. Mid-century modern in style. Like Dilling, I use a battery operated clock. Leftover from my working outside the home days. I now care very little about what time it actually is. I love that it isn't lit unless you want it to be.

I have a picture of my dog with some of his friends in the back of a pickup on the way home from a hike. 

As you can see, I'm currently reading the biography of Prince Charles circa 1979. It must have been a disappointment to write the book just before his dating and engagement to Diana but the book is a witty one and I'm enjoying it thus far. I love to read and always have a couple books next to the bed at the ready. Biographies are of particular interest to me. I see in the photo a copy of Raffi's book Child Honouring which is a really great book. I also keep my diary next to the bed. After my kids are asleep it's an easy time for me to catch up on some entries.

You might be wondering what's hanging over the drawer of my night stand. Those are diapers. Even though my son is dry overnight and doesn't wear them in the day I'm super paranoid about soiling the mattress so I kept the diapers next to the bed. Which also explains the flannel sheet folded in half and stretched across the upper half of my bed. Not only is it good protection but it's soft to sleep on as well. 

How did you spend your $100 Climate Change Dividend?

A couple weeks ago, I put mine towards a Xtracycle that I've been coveting for the last two years. It finally made it up to the top of my priorities list. When I was looking to buy one in Canada I noticed that they could be found in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. I chose to spend my money in Saskatchewan, knowing that richer Alberta and Ontario don't need it as badly. I bought my Xtracycle at Escape Sports. The owner, Jonathon was a real help and went out of his way to ship it on the bus where it would get handled less and I could save on cost. It was cheaper than he even expected it to be. 

I've never enjoyed driving and now I have even more opportunities to not drive a vehicle. The Xtracycle offers me the ability to ride my bike further and to carry more weight. I can easily carry a weeks worth of groceries and one of my kids on the back. Last week I was carrying more than eighty pounds! My husband is going to build a double seat so I can carry both my kids, since my younger son is too small to just hang on. I'm sure for longer trips my older daughter could tire and a seat for her would be ever useful. 

The best part about it is that you hardly notice that it's even attached. You aren't towing any of the extra weight thanks to it being evenly distributed between the wheels allowing it to behave in the same fashion my bike was originally designed to. I may go a bit slower on some of the hills but as long as one understands and is adept at shifting gears and planning the bike route to avoid the steeper hills it's a pleasant, enjoyable way to ride.

The other night the kids and I all hopped on and my husband gave us a ride. It was easier than expected and pretty nice to be on the receiving end of the ride for once!

I can't say enough about this purchase and the value it's adding to our lives! If you see me riding around town, don't hesitate to comment or ask questions! I even have a few extra Xtracycle flyers in my bag if you're interested.

My breakfast the other morning was too good to not share. We had fruit and I made my favourite Sweet Potato Honey Biscuits. They were so rich and tasty. Since they are so quick and easy to make we have them often throughout the year. If there's interest I'd probably be willing to share the recipe for this or any other meal we make...

Non Off Gassing Shower Curtains?

I'm actually pretty disturbed to find out that my vinyl shower curtain is not only made in an environmentally irresponsible fashion but is also actually off gassing every time I have a shower. The majority of the off gassing is apparently taking place in the first month of the shower curtain's out of the package life. What kills me is that when I replace it it's just going to go to the landfill and not decompose. It's more likely that it will leach the chemicals into the ground. 

I've long wanted to get away from as much plastic and other synthetic items as possible but I still find myself not even aware of such items as shower curtains. It didn't occur to me to consider that the brand new vinyl shower curtain put up for our moving in made such an environmental impact. We had glass shower doors on our last owned home which I suppose is an alternative option if you have a conventional modern bathtub enclosure. In this home we have a beautiful claw foot tub so I need to find non off gassing shower curtain.   

A quick google search comes up with a few interesting articles:

The Toxic Nation: Guide to Vinyl 

Los Angeles Times

Treehugger.com

Digg

It looks like I can buy an alternative from Ikea, Sears...

Pricer options include:

Hankette's Organic Cotton Curtain

Dream Design's Hemp Curtain

Organic Canada's Hemp Curtain

Organic Lifestyle's Hemp Curtain

I imagine it wouldn't be hard to make your own either. After seeing the general price of a hemp/cotton alternative and the fact that I'd need two to fully enclose my claw foot tub when showering, I think I'll do just that. Make my own. Stay tuned for future pictures and perhaps a tutorial. 

Third Most Walkable City in Canada?

NNB

They should clarify that distinction to "most drive to walking destinations". I walk often and I find "dangerous" to be a better descriptor than anything else when it comes to walking in the city of Nanaimo and the fact that it's dangerous seems almost entirely attributed to the lack of sidewalks this city has built. Is this problem exclusively a South Nanaimo problem or are there a lack of sidewalks on many main roads in North Nanaimo as well? Somehow I think not. 

With newer and more exclusive neighbourhoods, sidewalks being found on not only one side but both sides of the street is fairly common. What's ironic to me is that many of the people who live in neighbourhoods like these don't like to leave their overly large houses on small lots unless it's in their cars. Yes, this is a pretty big generalisation but in my experience a fair one. Most of these neighbourhoods don't offer anywhere to walk to even if you wanted to get out for a walk! They're residential labyrinths purposely designed to make it hard to find your way out once you've driven in. They're gateless (well, some are actually gated) gated communities with the only roads leading anywhere productive to be on the outside perimeter. So while they have sidewalks on each and every street winding this way and that, few people are out walking and less with any destination in mind.

There are many of us who can't afford to or simply can't imagine living in these kinds of subdivision "communities". I for one enjoy living in a small but decent sized home with character on a block where I know and talk to my neighbours. I like living where I can walk to the grocery store and enjoy all that the city's community has to offer in the way of parks and eateries. I like getting to know people and having people get to know me on my daily and evening walks. It is however a bit tiresome to be running from one side of a busy street to the other to avoid being hit by a speeding car because there are no sidewalks and no better place to cross when wanting to walk on the "safer" side of the sidewalkless street.

Look at Bruce Avenue as a prime example. This road has three schools located on it and doesn't have a sidewalk apart from a few random sections like the new addition of a one sided sidewalk next to the mall. So either kids are dangerously walking to school on the shoulder of the road each day or they are being driven to school however few blocks they live away. 

Pine Street is another street lacking in basic sidewalk requirements. Once it passes Third Street (or is it Fitzwilliam at this point?) it goes up over a limited vision hill and with the speed so many drive on this section of road a pedestrian must constantly be aware of impending danger. Pushing a stroller or wheelchair on this uneven gravel shoulder is next to impossible if your goal isn't to drive right into the littered bush. This road is even worst if cars are going top speed as it winds around to become Park Street. 

Harewood Road isn't much better unless you're talking about roads to successfully speed on. In that case it seems to be a very favourable road for that activity. Obviously a big part of the safety in walking on these roads has to do with drivers driving responsibly but this is a topic I'll save for a different blog posting.

I find myself questioning why $500,000 is being spend on "beautifying" a park that already exists and is already beautiful when the people who live here can't even walk to it in relative safety. Now I don't actually have a beef with money being spent on updating and renovating a park so it has a slightly different look for the sake of having it "feel" new and improved but it does seem to me like ridiculous city priorities.

I suppose that's how it works in bureaucracy and it's overwhelming singular interest in economy and wealth. Spend all the money on those who "contribute" most to the city. The tourists and those who live here who are more well to do. At least I imagine that's the city's thinking when it comes to city improvement projects. 

I'd like to see this city more useable for all the members of it. I believe something like sidewalks on at least one side of each street would enrich the community and offer a safer opportunity for people to leave their cars behind. It could encourage people to get outside where they would meet their neighbours and benefit their health and well being by moving their bodies and being in the fresh air.

There are a number of studies and books written about the enormous benefits of simply being outside. Studies that showed that sick people will recover at remarkable rates if they have even a small view of something outside. Children in particular can gain a great deal from being outside. Last Child in the Woods is a fantastic book outlining the pitfalls of our children being away from nature, including obesity and adhd type behaviour. 

The other obvious benefit of building sidewalks and walking when possible is not having to fill up your gas tank as often. With the ever growing cost of fuel it's a good time to be considering alternatives. Walking is certainly an affordable and proactive option.

Sore Sight

I don't like to drive often but needed to do a big grocery shop this morning at the Thrifty's downtown. Sitting at the intersection of Victoria Crescent and Nicol Street waiting for the light to change offers a sad sight. So many "shady" characters hanging out next to the highway on the same strip of grass that announces "Welcome to Nanaimo" or some such sign. It was hard to see the sign past the shopping carts. Skinny young gangster types obviously hooked on crystal and who's bodies are so ruined by drugs and street life that they can barely walk like they are younger than ninety years old. Unshaven men who look older than they probably are seem as if their only drive to go elsewhere is if they're told to move on and women who may have been beautiful long ago, covered with scabs and barely clothed giving every man they walk by a come hither smile. The New Hope Centre is supposed to discourage the lounging around on that strip of grass but it seems every time I walk by it's littered with people and the garbage they leave behind. 

The homelessness issue is one I feel so conflicted by. There are many people out on the street with mental illness who have little other option since taking care of themselves is obviously not feasible. There are many others out there who are there thanks to drug addictions. I'm sure there are even a few who are out there because they have no where else to go. Difficult home lives and the like. What can be done? What is being done already to help with this problem? I have to scratch my head when some suggest the police "do something" about it. Being homeless isn't against the law. 

The housing initiatives I've read about happening in Nanaimo over the next few years have me asking more questions. For one are they going to be placed all over Nanaimo? Many of the people that need housing need to get away from the downtown area and the life they've know for so long. They need a new perspective. Many people on the street need mental health assistance. These people aren't able to be independent. Is there going to be appropriate housing for these people?

I'm not sure how I feel about too many "low barrier" style housing options. I'd like to think that the bulk of the new housing goal is to help people get a step closer to breaking free from homelessness, drugs, crime or whatever their personal problems associated with being homeless are and getting people independent and contributing to the quality of their own lives. I guess I hope that it goes beyond putting a simple roof over their heads.

I would feel so much less contempt for some of these people if they weren't littering (garbage, needles...) or generally showing minimal concern for the community that cares about enjoying where we live. I suppose many of them would show more care and concern if they were less looked down upon and ignored. Quite the conundrum. 

A big part of me wonders why no one cares to think more about why people are becoming homeless in the first place? Why the appropriate mental health professionals are coming up with evaluations for individuals just barely above what's deemed needing full time care? I mostly wonder though why we put so little thought as a society into supporting families in raising children into becoming mentally healthy, stable individuals who care about their community and other people. 

Mainstream parenting these days seems to push children away to make them "independent" despite the fact that they are children and in every way need to feel dependant on their parents or guardians. A baby who came from the most intimate of places- inside our womb is born and placed in a barred box in a room down the hall, away from the comfort of our arms. We have devises like bucket car seats and swings to put our children in so we don't even have to hold them. There are self feeding bottles so you needn't be troubled with being near when they are hungry. Schedules and control are central to many parenting practices. This teaches our children not to trust themselves or their parents. Many parents aren't even raising their own children because of the "need" for a second income. Older children and teens quickly decide that their peers are their real family. How frightening is this? That they rely on one another for emotional support and growth. How can you mature if what you strive to be like is the same age and maturity level as yourself?

I propose a great deal of societies problems could be solved by trying to focus on families now. Endorse back to the basics, sensible and natural parenting practises and perhaps teaching families skills like how to cook basic, nutritious yet appetising whole foods meals and other ways to make staying home with your children affordable and generally helping families to thrive.

There are studies done that say the most important years in a person's life are the first three. That how the child is raised and treated during this time can determine what kind of person they could become. Having their needs met in these early years can make it easier for these children to one day meet their own needs and other's later in life. I read one study (and damn it if I could find it now!) in which convicts were questioned about their upbringing and virtually all had difficult and dysfunctional family situations often including abuse. 

It's easier for me to feel compassionate for these people when I recognise the many reasons that they are out there.