Castanet News has distributed a questionnaire to council candidates in both Kelowna and West Kelowna to help voters get to know those who are putting their names forward. Between the two cities, 45 people are running for councilor.
All candidates have been asked the same questions and the answers have been modified for clarity and brevity where necessary. Answers will be posted daily over the next few weeks. An interactive database of Okanagan candidates, including past poll histories, is here and updated daily.
Election day is October 15.
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Kelowna Candidate: Noel Wentworth
Why would he make an effective councilor?
I am very proud to have been born and raised here in Kelowna and I can say that I have seen some major changes over the years.
Among many free music education activities, since the age of eleven I have been an active volunteer, liaison and fundraiser serving at the Kelowna Kiwanis Music Festival, creating music scholarships, forming drum circles for at-risk children, and advocating for MADD Report Impaired Drivers Kelowna signs. My initiatives have helped raise over $270,000 to help children locally.
As a teacher, I am a good listener and kindred spirit. I genuinely want to learn more about the issues and concerns that affect our citizens so they can make informed decisions and ask questions of council and staff. As a business owner, I can offer perspective on running a business, staffing, training, applications and expenses.
I will be a listener and advocate for the community on the council. People need to have representatives on the city council who are willing to listen to residents’ concerns and connect with important community priorities. I will be that consultant for Kelowna.
In your opinion, what is the number one issue facing the city today and how would you deal with it knowing that city hall only has so much power?
Crime and Security. Crime seems out of control and many do not feel safe in our community. In fact, a recent City of Kelowna survey found that one in four residents has been a victim of crime in Kelowna. I know a lot of crime issues are out of the council’s control, but there are issues under local control that I will advocate for.
Understanding that desperate people do desperate things and trying to understand why crime happens in the first place is one such range of issues. There are things that have been done, things that are being worked on, and things that are planned for the future. Some were successful, some seemingly not.
I support the construction of long-awaited multi-housing care for the most vulnerable and alternatives to wet housing. The 20 new beds are a great start, but we still have a lot of advocacy work to do to get more of these much needed facilities. We also need more social services and additional monitoring of the city. I think we need to seriously consider the costs, benefits and drawbacks of municipal policing. Studies have shown that more lighting in the city center would help deter crime, as would better cleaning up tags and graffiti.
On that note, I will ask downtown building owners if they consider some alley walls to be used as a way for our spray artists to practice and express their art, turning unused areas of our downtown into beautiful art and cultural conversation. Maybe this kind of crime could be turned into a positive for everyone. With more lighting this could be profitable and has been successful in other communities.
It could be decades before a second Okanagan Lake bridge is built. How are you dealing with Kelowna’s transportation congestion in the meantime?
We all need traffic flow in the city more efficiently.
Apparently, the lights on the freeway and some high traffic roads cause the most problems. The least expensive way to deal with this would be (better?) timed lighting which would be useful in certain areas of our city such as the on-ramp to the bridge from Campbell Road.
I often wonder if we are ready to start eliminating lights in high traffic areas where possible and start working towards on and off ramps, overpasses and underpasses to keep traffic moving.
Although I would like to see more bicycles used, as well as more electric forms of transport, cars are a cultural and work/school necessity. Our current public transit system feels backward for the size of our city, and we need more options to get where we need to go on time. In an ideal world, more buses and bus times would be helpful, but at a cost.
Do you think Kelowna is growing too fast?
It sure feels like it is. With schools over capacity and our infrastructure falling behind, it’s understandable that we all feel this way.
Some believe that stopping Kelowna’s development is the answer, I don’t know if it’s even possible and I don’t necessarily feel that’s the best decision either.
I think we need to find good ways to deal with Kelowna’s growth that are constructive and productive. We need more housing, rentals, infrastructure, while thinking about our environment for generations to come.
Growth and progress is a natural progression of cities over time. We live in one of the most desirable places in Canada and we know growth will happen, but we need to better manage that growth.
How would you make Kelowna more accessible?
We need more affordable housing and more affordable rents in Kelowna.
I’m pro-growth. I know we need more housing stock, which in theory will help keep the cost of buying and renting homes lower.
I would like to see development cost charges (DCC) assessed on a square meter basis rather than “per door” which can save developers money which in turn could help keep housing costs down slightly lower.
The YeYe Housing society in Kelowna has a very interesting plan where the goal is for a potential home owner to have 75% equity in their home. In a nut shell, the buyer would own 75% of the home’s market price instead of 100%. When the owner sells, he will receive 75% of the sale, the society will keep 25%. This would be for those who have less than $150,000 in combined income and have lived in Kelowna for at least a year. This type of private innovation in affordable housing is something we should applaud and encourage.
My biggest question right now is how many homes are built and not lived in year round. Or homes bought as Air BnB by someone from out of town and rented out by tourists. For example, I understand that there is a single family home on my street that is solely Air BnB that is being purchased by someone from out of town. This is an uninhabited house. Not a single family lives there and we need full time housing for our residents. We must take care of our own.
If you had $1 million to spend on anything in the city, how would you spend it?
We know that to prevent future crime and homelessness we must invest in our youth, especially at-risk youth. In a municipal budget, $1 million doesn’t go as far as it used to, but for a local nonprofit the number of people it could help is simply incredible. I have seen this first hand through the various fundraising efforts I have led here in Kelowna.
