The Similkameen News Leader
Editorial
February 5, 2008
STRANGER IN MY OFFICE
The other day I had an unexpected guest in my office. He's a long-time resident who was very upset about the housing and doctor situation in Princeton.
We discussed ways we thought could fix the problem but never really found that one little gem that could save everything. That's sort of how brainstorming works - and for some reason, my office attracts a lot of people wanting to either vent or pick my brain for ideas.
It's okay, I don't mind as I'm not so sure how much help I can offer in most cases but with this stranger in my office I asked a question I never thought I'd ask anyone.
"Do you feel as if Princeton has failed you?"
His response was a yes.
It was a turning point for me, right then and there.
With talk about a possible mine project, new development downtown, strata proposals and the still wacky real estate market it makes me wonder what is everyone going to do here once they get here and find few doctors, a scaled-down hospital and no recreation centre, movie theatre, limited
'fine dining' experiences and whatever else newcomers would expect.
Sure, we pointed fingers in our conversation blaming everyone we could think of but the bottom line is still the bottom line.
Princeton has not kept up.
It's as if we are in a time warp and as a result live in a constant state of denial.
Dr. Adams wrote about a looming doctor shortage ten years ago. The real estate market started to climb no less than five years ago. Those should have been signals.
Why are we so blind to the signals?
I mentioned to the stranger in my office that I feel the next Town Council and School Board will need to be able to read all the signals as I'm convinced the two years leading up to the 2010 Olympics is our only chance as a community to put our best foot forward and grab on to the wheels of change and growth as they whistle right by us on Highway 3.
In order to embrace change we need to change along with it, instead of waiting for it to happen all around us then deciding maybe we'll do a little of this and a little of that so we don't change too much.
We also have to get past the fact that we use buzzwords like 'depressed area' and
'isolated region' to reach out for help.
It's time Princeton picked itself up, dusted itself off and went after what's rightfully ours and quit taking no for an answer or the bullies will continue to push us around as they know they can get away with it.
It's time the Princeton we fell in love with took back what we've lost at our hospital and used that incentive to attract new doctors. It's time Princeton stood up and developed a low-cost housing development to look after it's own.
It's time we said no to the hand outs and did it on our own and quit giving people reasons to give up or before long we'll just end up another ghost town on the side of the road.
