Support for a new cultural centre in downtown Vernon was nearly unanimous among potential council candidates Monday.
Almost 400 people sat in the Vernon and District Performing Arts Centre to watch 19 of the 20 candidates discuss the Greater Vernon Cultural Centre referendum this Saturday and other hot topic issues.
Only candidate Sam Zaharia did not attend the forum.
Tannis Nelson of the Regional District of North Okanagan began the official part of the evening with a presentation on Saturday’s referendum, which will ask Greater Vernon voters if they support borrowing up to $25 million to help pay for a proposed $40 million facility that would house the Vernon Public Art Gallery and Greater Vernon Museum and Archives on the site of the former Coldstream Hotel on 29th Street.
If approved, Nelson said taxpayers would be paying about $12 per year.
Support for the project came from former Vernon MLA and provincial minister of education, children and family development and aboriginal relations Tom Christensen.
“The time to move this forward is now,” said Christensen. “Land is available. Interest rates remain relatively low. There’s clearly a need and an opportunity, and there has been an extensive community process to get us to this point.
“There’s simply no reason, in my view, to further delay making this improvement to our community.”
Among the candidates, former Prince George councillor Gord Leighton spoke of his experience in B.C.’s northern capital as the community built a new museum and art gallery.
“Cultural projects like that foster economic development, civic pride and downtown rejuvenation and will assist businesses and governments in recruiting professionals to come to this city,” said Leighton. “Cultural facilities like this are a magnet.”
Former Vernon councillor Shawn Lee was ecstatic when he heard the referendum question would be on the ballot.
“Having served with the Arts Council of the North Okanagan, I was aware of the struggles of the two organizations that would benefit from a ‘yes’ vote here,” said Lee. “This is brilliant.”
Kari Gares said she’s always been a firm believer that building an identity that’s forged from arts and culture essentially builds a strong and diverse community that drives economic stability.
“I know that a lot of people are quite concerned with what’s going on within our community, specifically as it relates to business development in our downtown core,” said Gares. “I just want to encourage everybody that when they look at these infrastructure projects to look at the long-term benefits that come from that. This is a major economic driver.”
Jamie Morrow said downtown revitalization is key for Vernon and the proposed cultural centre in downtown is a great place for it.
“Once it starts I think we’ll see a ripple effect, even much more beyond what any of us can see right now,” said Morrow. “We need to think of our children, our grandchildren, not just ourselves. As a candidate and as a person, I’m voting yes for this, ever since I’ve seen it, so I hope you all see it that way, too.”
Kevin Lepp is happy to see the prospect of the museum and art gallery being under the same roof once again.
“When Vernon decided years ago to separate the two out of the museum I thought it was a disservice to all of us,” said Lepp. ” I never thought that the parkade (current home of the art gallery) was going to be the place to be. I do believe this is a step forward to bring the two back again, and a step forward for Vernon in the right direction. I want to see us to be progressive and to be progressive right now, we need to vote yes.”
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Dawn Tucker said one of her earliest memories growing up in Vernon was visiting the museum repeatedly to see all of the taxidermy animals.
“I kept returning to the museum and it’s probably one of the reasons why I have a history degree,” said Tucker. “It’s also something I returned to while in university to do research. Even then it was cramped as I went through seven years of Vernon Daily News hard copy. We don’t have room for it. We have all the Vernon Daily News. I’m really sad we lost some of Sveva Caetani’s paintings to Alberta because we didn’t have climate control. I believe these things make an impact on youth and I believe that they’re long-lasting.”
Don Jefcoat said a visit to museums in small-town Saskatchewan convinced him to support the proposal.
“I think this is an opportunity,” said Jefcoat. “We can go into the governance and how it’s going to cost millions of dollars, that’s almost a reality, but visitors coming to Vernon are going to experience our culture. My grandkids and great grandkids, and I have a great nephew coming next year, he will – we will – have a place that we stow our artifacts. I’m a big fan of that. I wanted it 10 years ago. I want it today.”
Incumbents Akbal Mund, Dalvir Nahal and Brian Quiring have been supporters of the plan since Day 1.
“We’ve been talking about a new facility here in Vernon since 2006 I think. It’s time,” said Mund. “We have the land for a new facility. We do not have the land for a new pool, as of now, but it’s coming. I’ll be the first in line to support a new pool as well but right now I’m first in line to support a new cultural centre.”
Said Nahal: “It’s a proven fact that for every dollar invested in the arts and culture community, you have a $7 return. I just want to say access to arts and culture programming is critical for young people because creative expression enriches lives, and we know that through creative expression we see positive academic and social outcomes.”
Quiring said to become the creative, innovative and imaginative citizens that our companies and governments want, Canadians need to willingly expose themselves to new ideas.
“A vibrant arts and culture is the easiest way to make this possible,” he said. “We have to stop thinking about arts and culture as simply ‘nice to haves.’ They are just as important as well-maintained roads and bridges. Arts and culture are infrastructure for the mind. Please vote yes, it’s more important than voting for the Q. We need this for our community.”
Fellow incumbent Scott Anderson was among candidates initially opposed to the plan, but whose minds have changed.
”I really struggled with this for a bit. I can make a case for and against it,” said Anderson. “I think we need a pool. That’s at the very top of my list. The only thing about this that really excited me was the museum. Until very recently I would have privately voted no even though my public stance is to allow the citizens of Vernon to make that choice because it’s your tax dollars. It’s not just for us, it’s for our kids..”
Teresa Durning was initially not sold on asking to borrow up to $25 million.
“After many questions to Dauna (Kennedy) and her team at the art gallery I can honestly say the more I’ve learned, the more I’m convinced that this is a viable and much-needed asset for Vernon,” said Durning. “The benefits of this project are not only an attractive asset but will assist in attracting much-needed talent and more job-filling individuals to Vernon. The vibrancy of the enhancement to the downtown area is much-needed.”
Kelly Fehr said the cultural centre was something personally he would not have voted for or be a venue he would frequent.
“But running for council, I’ve had to put myself into a position of looking at Vernon overall,” said Fehr. “I do understand it’s a project that benefits Greater Vernon. My children and my wife’s children growing up were involved in the arts and music and it’s greatly benefited them over the years, and I think it would be a great benefit to Vernon overall.”
David Deshane supports the project but with a caveat.
“This can happen now because previous debts have been paid down for the last 20 years,” said Deshane. “That raises the question do we want to wait 20 years for the next project. I’m still a believer in the project but I believe it has to come with a guarantee of a housing component, a public-private partnership so that there is a limited debt to the taxpayer. I think it’s a doable thing.”
The only solid no vote came from Terry Vulcano.
“The art gallery deserves a better location and facility, however a Taj Mahal-sized building is not supportable,” said Vulcano, who adamantly disagreed with RDNO’s numbers for taxpayers. “It will be nearly $50 a year in additional taxes. It’s smoke and mirrors to claim it will only be $12 per year impact to have a cultural centre. A big expensive building does not matter to make a good interpretation. A proper feasibility study would be beneficial…Vernon already has a world-class museum at O’Keefe Ranch. If that does not receive adequate attendance, how can there be justification for an oversized building?”
Candidates Jasmine Finlay, Sherrilee Franks, Lily Kerr and Rick Lavin did not respond to the question. They did answer on other questions posed by moderator Duane Grandbois, such as the realization that attainable and affordable housing has been the most consistent priority issue.
Grandbois said comments provided by candidates were so intertwined with homelessness, drug use, crime and safety, they made a two-part question on the topic: if elected, what measure would you take to make affordable housing more attainable for first-time homeowners, young families and immigrants; do you support the concept of high-density compact housing and if not, what alternative initiatives would you propose and how many measures address homlessness?
“I do support the official community plan; as for higher density, I agree with councillor Quiring’s comments (calculating density in one zone by using floor area ratio instead of per door which allows developer to create more smaller units and becoming more affordable),” said Franks.
“The second part of the question is how does this help the homeless situation. I believe that the homeless situation is just not one situation, there are different parts to it, such as mental health and addiction, however, the part that is specific to homelessness, I do believe this will help that situation.”
A question on economic development asked candidates what they would do to retain young families in Vernon, what their approach to revitalizing downtown and planning future growth in Vernon, and how important is recreation and culture to the long-term economic growth.
“If we’re going to stimulate investment and economic development, especially within downtown core, we’re going to have to do a better job of supporting businesses and bringing things back into balance,” said Finlay. On the day (Hi-Pro Sportswear former owner) Bob Sattler went to city hall and dumped his cart (cleaning up mess left behind on business property), I went to visit him after. Failing to support businesses is one thing, but fining them and criminally charging them is quite another. That was a game-changing moment for me.
“One thing we can do is create a bylaw that allows for some publicly funded cleanup of messes on private property where businesses are being more heavily impacted due to service providers. It was discussed in council and I do not believe this needs to be a black hole of taxpayers’ dollar where we are now funding cleanup on every private property in the city. We can have a well-written bylaw that allows us to support businesses and make our downtown community more attractive to investment.”
Added Lavin: “I believe economic development comes from formal and informal relationships with the business community. First you have to listen to them, understand the problems and based on the evidence, you have to take action on what you’ve learned. In my speaking with people in the downtown area, I understand that mixed use facilities are highly recommended. Housing, light commercial, park, path and trails make downtown a great place to invest. Amenities such as recreation and culture draw investment into our community.”
Kerr gave her first response of the evening, siding with Sattler and his actions.
“I also went to see Bob Sattler, he told me what happened, he phoned Gateway (Shelter), who said it wasn’t their guys and he said yes it is, then he phoned bylaws and was told it was his problem, it’s on his property,” said Kerr. “You know what? I would have done the same thing.”