Smart Cities a boon to city

The Mayor of Penticton says even if the local Smart Cities Challenge application is unsuccessful, the process over the past four months will reap benefits for the community.

Council approved the group's “challenge statement” Tuesday — an overarching goal to improve the city.

“Let’s build a physically and mentally healthier, strongly-connected Penticton where each person has access and opportunity to maximize their health potential.”

The volunteer group is proposing a series of to-be-announced projects using technology to reach that goal.

“This has really been a community-driven initiative, which is why it's quite exciting for council to support, and I think is what will separate us from a lot of the other submissions,” Andrew Jakubeit said on this week’s Mayor’s Minute.

The mayor noted more than 1,200 people engaged with the grass-roots campaign to share ideas about solvable problems in the community.

“Having 1,200 people, and it wasn’t just the normal people that have been coming out to some of our other engagement, it’s really drawing in a larger cross-section of people who are renewing and regaining some passion in our community,” he said.

In December, Keith MacIntyre of Big Bear Software, came to council urging the city to support the team of volunteers he would lead in crafting an application for the Infrastructure Canada competition

Penticton is competing in the mid-sized city category for one of two prizes of $10M. Finalists will be announced this summer and will received $250,000 to fully develop their submission.

Jakubeit said some of the specifics of the projects behind the challenge statement are under wraps until the application deadline on April 24, given Penticton is competing against other cities.

“A lot of it has centred around connectivity, so feeling connected,” he said. “Engage and participate with what’s happening in the city… getting back to neighbourhoods, knowing your neighbours, and that community feel”

Even if Penticton isn’t selected as a finalist, Jakubeit says having a volunteer-led conversation on the community like what has occurred over the last four months is invaluable.

“Some of the data that’s been collected about ideas put forth, that in itself, will be a positive for us to act on. There is a lot of great initiatives that people have come up.”