Zoom, zoom...

[Skook]

I was poking around the District of Sechelt website a few weeks back and wondered who the mayor was now. Well, his bio was really interesting and shows the "times they are a-changing" on the Sunshine Coast...or maybe that should read "a-charging"...

Quote:John R. Henderson was elected Mayor of the District of Sechelt and took office in December, 2011. A Fellow Chartered Accountant, businessman and entrepreneur, Mr. Henderson lived and worked in Hong Kong for 20 years before choosing to move to Sechelt.

Mayor Henderson has served the community of Sechelt as the volunteer Chair of the Sechelt Sewage Facilities Commission and Chair of the Board and President of the Sunshine Coast Community Forest. He previously served as a director of the B.C. Ferries as well as a numerous other companies and community organizations. Mayor Henderson is currently an executive-in-residence to the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business and a member of the Board of the Islands Coastal Economic Trust.

A Sechelt resident since 2003, Mayor Henderson holds a BComm from the University of British Columbia. He is a graduate of the Institute of Corporate Directors and a Fellow of the Hong Kong Certified Public Accountants. He is currently a director of a mineral exploration company as well as the Founder and Managing Director of The Pacific Rim Group. He has been a coach, mentor and consultant to organizations looking to grow and change for more than 30 years.

Mayor Henderson has a keen interest in the effective use of innovation and new technologies. He demonstrates his focus on technological advancements in his personal transportation, driving an electric-powered Tesla Roadster and electric Segways. He enjoys coaching youth soccer in Sechelt and golfing.

Mayor Henderson is Sechelt’s “Chief Business Development Official”. If you are considering establishing a business in Sechelt, you are encouraged to contact him directly!

Now, I may be wrong but I do believe that when a business owner or his or her representative contacts an elected official at the provincial or federal level that is called "lobbying" and I think by law a lobbyist is required to register and meetings between officials and lobbyists are to be put on public record. But, heck, this is just a little town on the Sunshine Coast and what do the people living there know about how business is really conducted anyways. Well, at least he is using his mayorial email address - so there might be some public record.

Oh, and there is a nice pic of the mayor beside his Tesla Roadster - damn, he looks proud of that baby, doesn't he?.

The base price for a Tesla is $65,000 - $85,000 CAD depending on the model and the battery will run you another $25,000 - $30,000 depending on the type and size you choose. Serious coin; but, at least he doesn't have to worry about the cost of charging up that lean, mean, promotional machine because you and every other tax payer in BC is picking up the tab to have 11 charges stations installed on the Sunshine Coast alone and one of those stations is outside the municipal office in Sechelt - all free to use, too; but, I am sure the Mayor isn't taking advantage of this freebie and that the newspaper pic of his car beside the charger was strictly a Coast Reporter publicity shot - right?

First Charging Stations Available, October 30, 2012

Charging Stations Sites Announced, December 23, 2012

A letter to the editor by a coastal wit shows the whole project is going over rather well...

Quote:November 9, 2012
Editor:

I was delighted to read in Coast Reporter, Nov. 2, that 11 electric car-charging stations are now being built on our Sunshine Coast. I feel sure that the 81 electric car owners in B.C. and the 37 in Alberta will feel secure in the knowledge they can be charged when they come to visit. It’s also exciting to learn that this taxpayer funded idea fits so well into our overall sustainability plan. Is there by any chance ever going to be a sustainability plan for taxpayers?

Fin Anthony, Sechelt

Life just gets better and better...for some.

I think if tomorrow is a nice day I am going to wash and wax my 1987 Honda Civic Wagovan. Yeah, zoom, zoom...