"Because I don't have it for reference"

This snippet from Tannis' most recent post finally pushed me to post a quick, frustrated note regarding accessibility to the OCP draft, and an overall concern with the process in general. Summerland boasts a robust municipal website, complete with all manner of downloadable documents (including, not insignificantly, the current OCP), yet the only way we can access the draft of the upcoming community plan is to either read a public copy at the library or municipal hall, or to BUY one for $30. Given that this entire process is presumably funded by your tax dollars and mine, this seems kind of steep, don't you think? It'd be cheaper to borrow it and photocopy it myself at a nickel a page (unless it's over 600 pages long...).

I approached one member of council by email over a month ago to ask whether there were plans to post an electronic version of this document and was told that indeed such a plan was in the works, and that once they had ironed out a technical issue that the document would be made available for download. I have no doubt that this response was sincere, and I'm hopeful that a free, downloadable copy of the OCP draft will see the light of day, but with only 15 days until the open house, I have to say time's getting tight. It's important that everyone who attends the meeting be as knowledgeable as possible about the matter at hand, no? Why wouldn't council want every citizen to have read the OCP draft from cover to cover? ...you can answer that one for yourself. I might also suggest that unless the draft in question was typeset by cavemen, it must already be an electronic document; it's 2005 after all.

My point here is that the oft-trumpeted effort on council's part to make this process open and available sometimes feels like mere lip service. Last year there was a lengthy dialogue in the editorial pages between some folks who felt the OCP open houses were a sham and the mayor, who repeatedly assured everyone that the process was as open as possible and that every effort was being made to involve the community in the planning. Flash forward nearly a year, and the fact that a free, electronic version of the OCP draft has not yet been made accessible seems to fly in the face of these assurances. It's not lost on me either that many of the people who have neither the time nor the finances to access the OCP draft are those that will be most affected by the plans under discussion - young, working families with a long-term stake in Summerland's future.