Echo Essentials Podcast

This week's Echo Essentials podcast is half banter between co-hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale before bringing seemingly-ostracized Coun. Jamie Lowery to discuss the progress and lack there of half-way into the four-year term.

Scott asks Dave about him stepping into a bit of Facebook "goo" while offering criticism about how a media release was republished by The Nugget as "submitted" without further attribution, unlike the credible job by BayToday staff, while also suggesting a news issue deserved more treatment by both. As for Coun. Lowery, Scott wants to know why so many people don't like dealing with him and Dave notes that his work as the chief executive officer of Casselholme Home for the Aged burned some bridges at the city. Meanwhile, Lowery said he considers himself an independent serving constituents and he's not inclined to play the game of voting for a councillor's motion to leverage a vote back in return.

TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 Gateway Home Hardware podcast discussion
2:26 Dave eats with strangers at Terry’s Place
3:35 East End Variety, Demarcos, Billy Booth Store
5:41 Himalayan Cafe experience
6:23 Dave gets humbled on Facebook, but … 
15:58 What is with Coun. Jamie Lowery?
23:26 Sponsor ad: Twiggs Coffee Roasters
24:26 Coun. Jamie Lowery is in the studio …
24:46 Communities in Bloom tour
28:28 Stuck in Peanut Gallery – 9 to 2 vote T-shirts
30:34 Twin pad arena example
32:46 Long-term Finance 
34:12 Attendance record
39:24 Don’t you know how to get things done?
41:05 How did George Maroosis manage conflict?
45:09 Appeared “arm in arm” at beginning
48:12 Chasing shiny objects
51:35 KPMG: “Opportunity for ‘business planning’...”
55:32 “When I was commissioner …”
59:14 Sponsor: Lafromboise Team
1:00:11 “Thinner pigeons…”
1:08:16 “No place to live…”
1:14:27 “What is the net benefit of Battalion?”
1:20:06 Report North Bay reader council surveys

The owner of a vilified motel in downtown North Bay and the president of the Near North Landlords Association visit the Echo Essentials studio to share their perspective on handling 'trouble' tenants. Anthony Koziol, owner of the Villa in the 300-block of Main Street East, is vice-president of the NNLA, was named by a nearby business owner as part of the problem because he rents to people associated with criminal activity (fencing of stolen goods and drug dealing).

He was joined by Tricia Marshall, president of the NNLA, who said the long time-frame and cost of removing tenants isn't easy or cheap under the current system.

Koziol said it's a complicated matter, noting that the same people just move a little ways down the road or find another tenant willing to let them do business there. And he said raising rents to avoid marginalized people isn't the answer because it would merely leave more people on the street. It was a wide-ranging interview that provided more insight from another viewpoint.

Related news stories and opinions: https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/zufelt-calls-out-owner-of-villa-apartments-9233638
https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/dnssab-recognizes-no-perfect-location-for-247-hub-9272517

https://www.baytoday.ca/letters-to-the-editor/letter-social-service-agencies-council-police-perpetuate-downtown-problem-9250854

Timestamps:
0:00 Passion for the marginalized
4:38 DNSSAB Consultant didn’t consult
15:27 Voyageur Aviation advertisement
16:34 Near North Landlord Assoc. guests
19:15 Dysfunctional system
22:04 “I could never be a landlord”
26:16 “Not … profiteering scum sucking landlords”
31:56 “It doesn't work that way”
36:23 Human Rights Code
41:55 ‘Why don’t you jack up your rates?”
49:22 ‘NIMBY-ism’
51:24 ‘Nowhere to go’
54:58 ‘Biggest thing that has to happen’
57:18 ‘211 system’
1:01:20 Not like the police didn't know
1:06:45 Need for psychiatric care capacity
1:13:29 Podcast provides long-form platform

This week's Echo Essentials podcast is all about the banter between co-hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale when a guest can't make it to the studio...and the tables are turned a bit as Scott finds himself agreeing with Dave for a change.

Seriously, do we really need more access to alcohol? If you are tripped up by a pothole, should you report it and file a lawsuit? (Scott and Dave share their own experiences). The city already absolves itself when their infrastructure work causes problems...with a viewer telling Scott it happened to him too.

And who in their right mind would want to be a landlord under current rules and tribunal backlogs? And a newsletter and podcast subscriber says Scott is wrong about the city hall windows, saying the lack of symmetry is refreshing.

Shane Moyer says the recent Echo Essentials podcasts featuring local politicians, police chief and business representatives didn't have the street-level perspective. Moyer, who is trying to help through the Homeless Advocates group, has gone through addiction treatment, lived on the street and was a criminal during the dark times.

He says the Northern Pines transitionary treatment program might work for some, but he is a proponent of a co-operative venture proposal in a more farm-like setting. They have a 23-page plan that would offer more natural and homeopathic addiction treatment options, he said, while also stressing that a business operation tied to it would help them become self-dependent. Before the interview, co-hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale discuss other city issues, including the mis-matching City Hall windows.

Brennain Lloyd, of Northwatch, pokes holes in nuclear waste storage decisions and so-called strategy, noting that much of it could travel through North Bay via truck convoys most days of the week for half a century.

Before the discussion, co-hosts Scott Clark asks Dave Dale why they are doing so many podcasts about the environment when they could be drilling into why City Hall windows don't match.

The North Bay Public Library is close to achieving charitable status and, some day, they'll be looking at capital fundraising campaign to build a better designed facility to help build a stronger community. Don Curry, chairman of the library board, and Ravil Veli, chief executive officer, join Echo Essentials Podcast hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face. In the pre-interview banter, the hosts talk about how libraries were a big part of their lives. Dave is supportive because he's been there for group meetings and events more often, while Scott hasn't been there for years. Dave said there are library events promoted in almost every Echo Essentials Newsletters, along with other curated event listings and news stories. Subscribe at www.northbayecho.ca

Today's Echo Essentials Podcasts includes video clips of elected officials and a citizen presenter making comments at the June 18 North Bay City Council and Committee meeting. Co-hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale provide their thoughts to add insight and perspective, as well as adding some context.

Before the clips are played, Scott asks Dave about his city council beat role at the Nugget, when it started and how it ended. Dave says he replaced a reporter who was eventually fired for killing with ink a former mayor of Mattawa and then adding fake colour into a court case story. And Dave explains why he referred to the reporter as a 'scab' who crossed a picket line in Calgary before being hired by the Nugget.

North Bay is co-hosting a public open house on PFAS 'forever chemicals' today (Thursday, June 20) at Memorial Gardens 3 to 8 p.m., with a 4 p.m. presentation repeated at 6 p.m. Featured on this podcast is Karin Pratte, the City's Senior Environment and Facilities Engineer, who manages the water filtration plant, waste water treatment and Merrick landfill. Joining the city at the public forum is the Department of National Defence, which owned the airport property when firefighting foam exercises contaminated soils, the Ministry of Environment and North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit.

New North Bay Police Chief Daryl Longworth joins Echo Essentials co-hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale to talk about his background, why he took on the role after retirement in Woodstock, Ont. and his priorities.

Longworth, who made a presentation to council June 4, explained how high-profile cases in southern Ontario provided experience that shaped his perspective on helping officers cope with their traumas and networking with other public service agencies.

Before the interview, which was recorded June 6, Scott and Dave talk about their own experiences with police after critiquing City Hall's odd-coloured glass replacement and toilet bowl design.

A controversy is brewing, once again, in the City of North Bay, over the best location and operational plan for a "warming centre" and "low barrier shelter" to serve unhoused residents. Coun. Mark King, chairman of the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board, joins the Echo Essentials podcast with hosts Scott Clark and Dave Dale to discuss the issue. King doesn't support a consultant's report that recommended having a "homeless hub" of such services within three blocks of the downtown area many homeless, often with mental health and addiction issues, receive medical, pharmaceutical and other support services. King said the experience of having the "warming centre" in a variety of locations these past few years informs his viewpoint. He said the negative consequences for those living nearby or operating businesses indicates is substantial.

Currently, the low barrier shelter is located beside the Northern Pines transitional housing project operating at the former OPP headquarters off Chippewa Street. That location is also problematic, he said, because of its close proximity to a high school, senior living centres and down the road to an elementary school and daycare. While open to the idea of a potential new location, he said the the Crisis Centre and Gathering Place soup kitchen warn of potential issues.

King wanted to come on the podcast after this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGo6vsKcvnU

Brent Kalinowski, North Bay's Community Safety and Well-Being Coordinator, joins Small Town Times editor Dave Dale and Between 2 Daves Co-Host Dave Mendicino to discuss his role, background and latest updates. A former police officer in Saskatchewan, Brent said he has believed for a long time there needs to be better community planning to deal with issues upstream so they don't fester into expensive and difficult to mend issues later. In the news most recently, the ad hoc council committee mandate was extended for another year. Some of the questions answer in this interview: How is Northern Pines and their transitional program doing to help people live independently? Where is the low barrier shelter component going to go? And is the Homeless Hub, recommended out of the DNSSAB homelessness study with a projected $2.6-million price tag, a cure for what ails the city?

See the Community Safety and Well-Being Plan information on the city website: https://northbay.ca/our-community/com...

See a BayToday story published this week about the Homeless Hub: https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/a-new-homeless-hub-near-downtown-north-bay-8907898