Author Topic: Kim City  (Read 860 times)

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Offline kimmy

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #15 on: August 15, 2017, 10:19:59 pm »
When you live in Kim City, the rent's due every day.

 #KimCityBlues

 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City

Offline kimmy

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #16 on: September 28, 2018, 02:05:19 am »
If anyone in the Kim City area is missing their ostrich, I'm sorry... but I have terrible news for you.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/237674/Ostrich-dies-from-injuries

I can't say it often enough... please be careful when you're transporting your ostrich.

 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City

Online Michael Hardner

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #17 on: September 28, 2018, 06:26:37 am »
Sorry, Ostrich. 

I drove through KC in 2005 and I think they had a huge billboard of Stockwell Day.  We thought we would take a highway 97C that looked pretty straight - and headed to Merritt on the way to Vancouver.  But it went straight up to the sky and our lil van was loaded to the top.  I had to floor it just to stay at about 80 km/h.

I like Mike City but it's expensive...

Offline kimmy

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #18 on: October 20, 2018, 12:11:45 pm »
The Admiral took a sip from his gin and tonic and adjusted his monocle. I imagine he was reaching back decades in his memories, to relive the moment.

"And this was when it all came unraveled," he continued. "There we were, the three of us, on stage at the Kim City Oddfellows Hall. The mayoralty debate. And a middle aged woman rose to the microphone and asked: what do you plan to do about all these hobos and hippies?"

"'Madam', I assured her, 'there are no easy answers, no quick fixes. This is a complex problem and the solution is  neither simple nor expeditious.'" He set his glass down with a derisive snort, and gave me a wry smile. "That was the moment I lost the election.  I finished a distant third, behind Kimball McGregor Jr and Dr Seung Woo Kim, who would of course later go on to become the first Asian mayor of Kim City. I did finish ahead of the clown candidate, at least."

"A novelty candidate?" I asked.

"An actual clown," he replied. "Timbo, I believe his name was."

"Why did that answer sink you?" I asked, setting down my Mai-Tai, puzzling over the Admiral's story. "It was the honest truth, wasn't it?"

"It was the truth, my girl," he replied, "but it wasn't what people wanted to hear.  What people wanted to hear was 'Run them out of town!' or 'Throw them in jail!'"

"But those aren't real answers," I objected. "The voters aren't that dumb, are they?"

"I don't believe they are," he said. "But I believe that is what they wanted to hear regardless."

"Why?" I asked, confused. "You think voters want politicians to tell them stuff they know is bullshit?"

"No, my dear," he said, shaking his head. "I think that the voters just wanted to know that I was as angry about the situation as they were."

--------


And the situation is very much the same as Kim City voters head to the polls today. As one of the country's fastest growing cities, we have a lot of growing pains-- traffic congestion, housing, development issues, transit, and so on.  And yet the issue that people are most fired up about is the homelessness, the drug addicts, the petty crime.

Shopping carts full of garbage are everywhere, people are passed out in parks, parking lots, lawns.  People are harassed, sometimes threatened.  People see some depressing sights when they visit our little downtown and waterfront, and unfortunately that's what tourists see when they come to town as well.  Downtown businesses have been complaining about the worsening situation as their employees no longer feel safe. Downtown stores have had grab-and-dashes, and of course employees leaving after their shift, especially at night, don't feel safe.

The current city council has implemented a plan based on a multi-faceted approach-- affordable housing development, outreach workers, mental health, assisted living spaces, and yes, more police presence. They're asking people to be patient as results won't be immediately obvious.  But that's not really what people are clamoring for.   People are mad frustrated, and they want to know that politicians appreciate that they're mad and frustrated.

The main challenger for the mayor's seat has been running radio ads that basically go "AAAAAAGH what's with all these hobos in City Park? AAAGGGH why don't they clean up downtown? AAAAGGHH why aren't they doing anything??"     I mean, not in those exact words, but that's the gist of it.   But he doesn't actually have a plan. He talks about "getting tough", but that's not a plan.  Anger isn't a plan.  But people are frustrated, and they'd like to see some anger, just to know that their elected officials understand them.

 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City

Online Michael Hardner

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #19 on: October 20, 2018, 03:46:46 pm »
That's a new thing for K City ?

Also... where did you get the idea of a clown mayoral candidate ?

Offline kimmy

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #20 on: October 20, 2018, 06:12:15 pm »
That's a new thing for K City ?

I have been her for just over 10 years, and have not previously sensed this degree of unrest over the homeless/drug-people/crime/vagrancy situation. It has noticeably worsened every year, and  I see little reason for optimism, despite the current strategy for dealing with the issue.  I know there are no easy answers, and yet I feel some amount of understanding with those who are voting in anger on this issue.  People who I consider otherwise sensible have decided to throw in their lots with angry-guy candidate, just because he's visibly angry.

Also... where did you get the idea of a clown mayoral candidate ?



 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City

Offline kimmy

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2018, 01:13:18 pm »
So our incumbent mayor won in a landslide.  Apparently "AAGGHHH why aren't they doing anything about these hobos???" wasn't a compelling reason to vote for the challenger.

And 7 of the 8 incumbent councillors also won re-election.  The eighth did not seek re-election... it is rumored that she has her eye on running for the Conservatives in the next election, and I will not be surprised if she unseats this region's lone Liberal MP.

Is it too easy for incumbents to win re-election? Is name recognition good enough, particularly in these local contests where there's often not much known about the candidates and not much to differentiate them from one another?

I voted for many of the incumbents, including the mayor, but not all of them.  I did vote for a few of the challengers who seemed like promising and earnest individuals.  I declined to vote for a couple of the incumbents who struck me as being not terribly useful.  One of the challengers I voted for did win the vacant seat.  Of the remaining challengers, a few seemed bright and capable... others seemed to have not much at all to recommend them.  One appears to have been a college student with nothing more than a photo and an email address for voters to consider... she still got 2000 votes.  I'm not sure why anybody would vote for a candidate based just on a name, a photo, and an email address. I imagine that for some number of voters they just picked her name at random, or because they liked her photo, or they liked her name, or something like that.

The school board trustee race is even more perplexing. There's a whole slew of names vying for four positions.  I read a local columnist who had glowing comments about two of them, so I cast votes just for those two, based strictly on the recommendation of the columnist. I imagine that for many voters the research process was even less vigorous. "Cool name" or "had more signs" might figure into the process. Pick four names at random?


-k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City

Offline ?Impact

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2018, 02:49:05 pm »
I imagine that for many voters the research process was even less vigorous. "Cool name" or "had more signs" might figure into the process. Pick four names at random?

Was Aaron Aaker running?

Offline SirJohn

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #23 on: October 23, 2018, 12:26:20 pm »
Is it too easy for incumbents to win re-election? Is name recognition good enough, particularly in these local contests where there's often not much known about the candidates and not much to differentiate them from one another?

Yes, particularly in cities where nobody much knows the candidates. Our media tells us virtually nothing about the people running, if it even tells us their names. The only people who learn anything are those who actually go to the candidate debates, and that's a minuscule number of people.

What do we know about the challengers? Virtually nothing. What do we even know about the incumbent? We recognize the name, maybe. But do we know what he or she has been up to at city hall? Not really. So we probably don't have any real motivation for unseating them. In most cities, the incumbent wins unless someone with name recognition goes against them or they've gotten into trouble over something.

It's worse for school boards. There's ZERO public information about either the incumbents or the ones running against them. We have four school boards in Ottawa, and I couldn't name you even one trustee to save my life.
"When liberals insist that only fascists will defend borders then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals won't do." David Frum

Offline wilber

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #24 on: October 23, 2018, 02:23:14 pm »
Our local newspaper covers all the candidates including school trustees. It gives pretty good coverage of local politics and In the days leading up to the election it asks the same questions of all the candidates and publishes their photo's and answers side by side. If nothing else  it gives you a good idea of who you don't want to vote for.
"Never trust a man without a single redeeming vice" WSC
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Offline ?Impact

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #25 on: October 23, 2018, 02:28:55 pm »
I couldn't name you even one trustee to save my life.

School boards and prisons have trustees.

Offline kimmy

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #26 on: November 21, 2018, 10:15:07 am »
A typical day on the streets of Kim City.

The only thing surprising about this to me is that neither of the trucks have a Confederate flag or a Metal Mullisha decal in the rear window.



 -k
Paris - London - New York - Kim City

Offline wilber

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #27 on: November 21, 2018, 01:15:55 pm »
Too bad we don't get to see the conclusion of that little incident.
"Never trust a man without a single redeeming vice" WSC

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #28 on: November 21, 2018, 05:57:12 pm »
Too bad we don't get to see the conclusion of that little incident.

Yeah, what happened???  I'm with the Ford! 


Offline Omni

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Re: Kim City
« Reply #29 on: November 21, 2018, 06:00:56 pm »
Yeah, what happened???  I'm with the Ford!

Well as the old saying goes, "small things amuse...."
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