GOOD MOVES TO ATTRACT DOCTORS AND LOOK AT HERITAGE

(OSOYOOS TIMES — Feb. 14, 2007) –

The Town of Osoyoos is to be commended for recently taking action on two issues of importance to citizens.
First, the Town has asked its 'Destination Osoyoos' economic development arm to spearhead a joint Osoyoos-Oliver push to recruit more doctors to our part of the Okanagan Valley.
With the population on the rise and the prospect of retirement by some local doctors on the horizon, this is the kind of proactive work by civic leaders that should be happening “ and we're delighted to see that in this case it is.
And in the same week we have another example of responsive local government.
At the same time as Osoyoos Arts Society member Tony Brummet is pressing Council to put 'heritage preservation' as a goal into the new draft Official Community Plan (OCP), we have the first of what will be a series of local meetings to create just the kind of municipal commission that Brummet is calling for.
In fact, as you'll see in our story in this edition of the Times, it looks as if Brummet himself will end up heading this Commission, at least as it does its initial work to develop a strategy for identifying local heritage buildings and sites that people feel should be preserved for future generations.
Whether one agrees with every case of heritage conservation or not “ and we don't; some old piles of bricks should be tossed on the dustbin of history “ it is good that Osoyoos is at least developing a mechanism for public input into what might be preserved.
In the meantime, kudos for a couple of very good moves in the past week that promise to help our town in the future.