Penticton Western News Wednesday, October 1, 2014
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Mayoral candidates targeted in posters Steve Kidd
Western News Staff
Andrew Jakubeit said he’d be happy to autograph posters of himself and fellow mayoral candidate John Vassilaki, should anyone care to bring one by. Jakubeit is referring to posters that appeared Tuesday morning, pasted to storefronts and walls through downtown and portraying him and Vassilaki as villains from DC Comics’ Batman series. This kind of negativity and behaviour gets amplified during election season, but it is always there, according to Jakubeit. “They should be looking at this election as an opportunity to create change. That’s where their focus should be,” said Jakubeit, adding his concern that this kind of negativity and fears of having their reputation attacked might discourage others from running for office themselves. “Now, good people who could make a difference in making our community go forward don’t put their name forward,” he said. “I am not sure what people are hoping to accomplish with this poster. It is disappointing.” The message the posters are trying to send is almost as mysterious as whoever posted them. Using a nighttime image of Penticton as a backdrop, Jakubeit is photoshopped to portray Bane, an assassin, and Vassilaki as Two-Face, an insane villain known for flipping a coin to decide between good and evil. A third figure, The Joker, stands in front, but it is unclear who it is supposed to represent, as is the title at the top of the poster, “Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.”
Whatever the message is, Vassilaki doesn’t like the negativity in this approach. “If someone has an issue with me in particular, the only thing they have to do is come and talk to me,” said Vassilaki. “They are harming the community more than anything else.” Vassilaki would rather people offer solutions rather than faceless criticism. “If they think they can do a better job than we are doing, then run for those positions,” he said. Leigh Follestad, acting president of the Downtown Penticton Association and owner of SmartShopper on Main Street, said the author of the poster could make better use of his time. “It was a ridiculous waste of time and money for someone to do that. It doesn’t do anyone any good. The best way for any of those people to express their opinions is to come out and vote,” said Follestad. “If some of these people would use the same amount of time and energy that it took to do something as ridiculously stupid as that, and use it to do something good and beneficial, that would be great to see.” Jakubeit said he is curious about who put the posters up, paid for them, and what their end goal really was, but other than his offer to sign posters, doesn’t plan to give it any more thought. “It’s disturbing but not heinous,” said Jakubeit. “It’s unfortunate people wouldn’t channel that energy into getting people to vote or make some positive change.” Jakubeit and Vassilaki are the only two candidates who have announced their intentions to run for mayor so far for the Nov. 15 municipal election.
COun. Andrew JAkubeit was somewhat surprised to see his face on this poster, a number of which showed up at some downtown locations tuesday morning. Jakubeit, along with Coun. John Vassilaki, who is pictured on the left side of the poster have been made to look like villains of batman. both men are running for mayor in the upcoming municipal election.
Mark brett/western news
South Okanagan ski hill hopes to be resurrected this season Joe Fries
Western News Staff
A new ownership group is “within days” of announcing its plan to resurrect Mount Baldy for the upcoming ski season, according to the head of the company tasked with selling off assets of the hill’s former operator. “We’re very close and we recognize that some of the (other) mountains have early-bird passes, so this is really for the skiers who want to ski Baldy to tell them we’re very close,” said Gary Powroznik, managing director of G-Force Group, whose company publicized the pending deal this week. “We’re expecting an announcement within days,” he continued. “And we recognize that people are kind of watching and wondering what’s happening, and I want people to know that we’re working really hard to make this happen.”
G-Force Group was appointed in July by a B.C. Supreme Court judge to sell off assets of the Mount Baldy Ski Corporation to pay a creditor who sought a foreclosure order. Since then, Powroznik has been working on gathering various elements needed to reopen the hill, such as a new owner, lenders and agreements with creditors. “Bringing these deals together is often related to financing and the timing of it. That’s the glue that holds it together,” he explained. “It’s a complicated situation, given the history of Baldy, but we kind of simplified it and we’ve got everybody lined up. We just need that glue.” While he wouldn’t disclose the names of those involved in the deal, Powroznik said the “key operator” is a Canadian who is “very experienced with regional hills like this and really likes the opportunity.”
Equally important, he continued, is the new group’s desire to work with previous resort manger Matt Koenig, who couldn’t be reached for comment but has reportedly agreed to stay on in that capacity despite the hill not operating last winter. Koenig did a good job “with very few resources from the previous owners,” said Powroznik, “but he needs some help and some further resources, and we think we’ve lined that up.” Assets included in the foreclosure include four development lots totalling 18 hectares, ski lift equipment, plus other intangibles, like land tenure agreements with the B.C. government. Mount Baldy, with two chair lifts serving 35 runs, is about 35 kilometres east of Oliver. There are also 120 privately owned cabins on the hill.
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