Hoping for change

After 29 years of living in Kelowna and reading all I can about this year's candidates for mayor and council, I have come to one overwhelming conclusion. It is so time for a major change at Kelowna City Hall. 

Firstly, my opinion is that this current mayor must be defeated. When one if his best friends decides to challenge him, it sure tells you he has not been doing much of a job leading the city. The trouble with Colin Basran is like many who sit in council chambers – they have not had dirt under their fingernails for so long, they have lost touch with people's issues and concerns.

An example is prosecuting people trying to to survive on farmland with another source of revenue. This mayor and council chose to waste our tax dollars dragging them to court, and the city lost.

Basran worries more about his image, how he dresses for magazines, his ego, and he has done very little regarding traffic chaos, downtown issues and crime.

It bothers me when I see the well known developers building in Kelowna who always seem to get what they want from this mayor. I'm sure they are contributing for his re-election, to ensure the status quo remains.

As regards current councillors, Mohini Singh, Luke Stack and Gail Given do not deserve to be returned to council. As a previous writer wrote, she judges these people by what they have done for the little people, not what they say at election time. Again, their images and egos have got in the way of common sense. 

I hope there are major changes this time around. When a city bylaw officer is concerned about the direction Kelowna is going, that sure sums it up.

Peter Newton, Kelowna