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Monday night was councillor Ernie Crist's most recent attempt to get some press and here I am giving it to him. There's an election coming up (November) and if there is one thing Ernie has learned it's that getting your name in the news is the key to re-election. Uncle Ernie has said that he's almost sure that he won't run again but it's pretty clear he's said that before.
And what a meeting it was. There was a great turnout of riders there and once again we packed the house. Unfortunately for us an issue that dealt with taxis and the disabled was on the agenda and that brought out a number of speakers so only a few mountain bikers were able to get up to the mic and plead our case. Those who did, including Peter Morin, Ken Bigelow and Sharon Bader representing the nsmbA, did a great job of speaking for the community. At one point Peter referred to Councillor Crist as Mr. Crist and Ernie blurted out "That's Councillor Crist." The gallery laughed and Ernie chuckled as well. It was a revealing character trait because he certainly isn't so foolish as to believe we were laughing with him and yet he decided to join in as we laughed at his arrogance. Is he pretending that he believes he's in on the joke? He did this several other times during the meeting and it became obvious that he's polished this defence mechanism over the years. Two Capilano College instructors also spoke eloquently on our behalf as did a product manager from Mountain Equipment Coop.
Councillor Crist's motion was to be the last item on the agenda and council was good enough to move it up to the beginning. In order for the motion to be heard it needed a seconder and Councillor Nixon put up his hand stating 'for discussion' as he did so. Without Councillor Nixon's support for the discussion the matter would have died then and there. Other Councillor's said in turn that they wished it hadn't been seconded but I'm glad it was. It gave us a chance to hear where each Councillor stands on the issue and it also gave each of them a chance to lambaste our friend Councillor Crist. Councillor Lisa Muri took Ernie to task over the contradictory nature of his motion - see below.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED THAT staff be requested to expedite this matter and commit to a definite deadline pertaining to the submission of the Alpine Strategic Study for Council's consideration so as to enable Council to make a decision on the continued use of the delicate and sensitive slopes of Mount Fromme for extreme Mountain Biking; and
FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED THAT District staff be instructed not to prepare such a Alpine Area Strategic Recreation Study on the assumption that to accommodate extreme mountain biking outside the regular and hard surfaced roads and/or trails in the District with the resulting negative impact on the environment and the subsequent fiscal implications for the District including the potential impact on residential neighborhoods, is a District responsibility.
He clearly contradicts himself (not to mention that nasty run-on sentence) and Muri took him mercilessly to the mat. When Crist had a chance to respond to the motion he ended up doing his familiar back-pedalling routine as well as indicating that if he wasn't misunderstood (woe is me!) we'd all be on his side. He didn't once mention the fact that his motion called for an immediate moratorium on mountain biking on Fromme. At the end of his time he again leaned toward the mic and added "and as far as Councillor Muri is concerned I suggest she take an English course." There were some good sparks at that point but I'll let you watch the video to see that. Links below.
Lee Lau spoke to the motion in favour of continued access to Fromme (way to go Lee!) and an area resident spoke out against what he felt were some concerns about the trail day this past Sunday.
When James Ridge, the city manager, spoke it became clear that all the hard work the nsmbA has been putting in is having an impact on District staff. They no longer see us as renegades attempting to circumvent the rules and we now have an excellent working relationship - in spite of Councillor Crist's efforts to poison matters. To see a summary of how our relationship with the District works now click here.
The motion was easily defeated five votes to one. It's becoming apparent that we have some great support from Council and that mountain biking will continue to have a home on the North Shore.
If you'd like to hear what members of the public had to say during the input portion which begins each Council meeting click here.
To see the theatrics which accompanied the discussion of Councillor Crist's motion click here.
To view these clips you'll need Real Player.
Click here to view the defeated motion.
