Concerned citizens form new society

Osoyoos Now meeting attracts large turnout

Are you concerned about the future of Osoyoos and area?
This was the question posed to an assembly of concerned citizens in Osoyoos last week.
A new president and executive has been selected for the former Town of Osoyoos Ratepayers Association (TORA) and officially chose the name Osoyoos Now at a meeting last Wednesday evening at the High School Mini Theatre.
The Osoyoos Now Society wants to see controlled, sensibly paced development and environmental sustainability (both water and land) for Osoyoos.
The meeting drew over 80 people who came out to voice concerns and support the goals of the group.
Michael Ryan, who initiated a meeting shortly after the public hearing on the proposed packinghouse development, is the new President of Osoyoos Now.
The executive also includes Robin Gubby as Secretary/Treasurer and Directors Al Schultz, David Moffat, Caroline Staple and Vern Stephens. A Vice President will be chosen soon.
Membership is open to all residents of Osoyoos and Rural 'A' District.
The concept for Osoyoos Now is to make it a large organization to represent the concerns of a lot of smaller organizations, said Allan Carswell, who chaired the meeting until the election of officers.
It is the plan of this group to approach stakeholders in other societies, such as the Osoyoos Water Quality Society, the Rural Ratepayers Association, the Desert Society, Friends of Desert Park and other groups, and ask them to appoint a member to sit on the board of directors of Osoyoos Now, said Carswell.
The goals of the Osoyoos Now Society are:rn-to support growth in the area that will retain and add to its unique characterrn-preserve and enhance parklands and beaches for all citizens of Osoyoosrn-enhance and improve the cultural core of Osoyoosrn-work together to achieve a better quality of life for all Osoyoos residentsrnIt goes without saying that Osoyoos is a wonderful place – the best place on earth, we think, said President Michael Ryan in his opening statement.
There are, never-theless, a lot of issues that we have and we want to unite and become involved in working out solutions.rnRyan added the Osoyoos Now Society hopes to encourage more active participation from the taxpayers and citizens of Osoyoos in guiding the direction of the town.
We want the society to be inclusive and to raise awareness of the things that are happening in this town.
We also want to have a responsive, respon-sible, accountable and communicative government. We're going to do our best to monitor things that are happening, to tell you about them and to encourage you to participate, Ryan said.
Ryan added that a key element of any viable community is its solidarity, and gave the example of the Harbour Key Drive residents uniting to address the drug problems on their street.
The sooner citizens start to see problems as community problems, Ryan said, the easier it will be to solve them.
These problems are not things we can slough off and say, 'well, I'm glad I don't live over there. I'm glad I don't have that problem!'rnIt is our problem, and collectively we have to work together to make sure it is solved, one way or another. We've got to stick together.
We should choose our elected leaders to take on this respon-sibility to work for the best interests of our community. So we want to make sure we have those kinds of people [as our leaders] in place.rnRyan also said he feels we don't have to sell Osoyoos to developers because Osoyoos will sell itself.
They'll find us, and the citizens will judge whether what they want to do and what they want to build is in the interest of our community.
Osoyoos is not going to stay the same, we know that, but when development comes, we have to manage it so that it continues to make this a better place, not take anything away.rnThe next meeting of the Osoyoos Now Society is scheduled for Thursday, September 15 at 7 p.m. in the Osoyoos High School Mini Theatre.
Ryan said the Society welcomes new members. Residents can email [email][email protected][/email] for more information or to join the Society.