Skeena Institute » Christo Holmes

Christo Holmes

Christo submitted the following:

I’m a long time resident,the owner of a local business since 1991,co-founder of the Northcoast Performers Society (mostly unplugged), and the Past Chairperson of the Board of Variance. I’m running for Council because I want to be part of the team that will help transition our city into the next phase of growth as we become a recognized viable world seaport..we need well-informed decision makers as we deal with fiscal and growth issues…and alas the next few years will still be ”all about the money” as we apportion city revenues on a priority basis…but I have confidence that new businesses and innovative citizens will create increased tax revenues as well as increased demand for local goods and services..

The challenges ahead form the basis of my campaign …lets focus on two such challenges…Number one is infrastructure…A city does not exist without infrastructure…fresh water supply,sewer and garbage collection,transportation,fire protection and police services ,etc…and we should recognize that city workers and publicworks/engineering staff have done an admirable job with infrastructure needs and emergencies given the lack of funds available to them. A city’s most important mandate is to maintain,upgrade and build necessary infrastructure and since cities across North America have been abandoned by senior levels of government it appears we’re on our own…able,even- tempered,level-headed and well-informed leadership is paramount as we face this challenge..

Challenge 2 will be about Balance…the sound and smell of money was prevalent when I first arrived…the stink of fish plants,the environmental horror that was the pulp mill circa 1970′s,the clanking of railyards,the irritable drone of dryer fans from the grain elevator..that was also the smell and sound of good-paying JOBS…now society has a new sensibility to the impact of industry and we need pragmatic approaches as we welcome new businesses..

Friends,though I would welcome their support,please understand that I haven’t any special interest groups or voting blocs working behind the scenes to assure my election; whether they be cultural,political.union ,business or environmental. I’m running as a concerned citizen,and I want YOUR vote…

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Anonymous

1. What is your stance on CityWest now that it appears unable to compete effectively with the major Telco’s and is rapidly becoming a major liability to the taxpayers of PR? By this I am referencing industry trends to declining land line usage, the dramatic upswing in cellular usages and new technologies that permit video /cable services to be delivered wirelessly and of course the ability of CityWest to compete in product line up, reliability and quality of service against Rogers, Telus and Bell.
2.Are you satisfied with how CityWest is performing?
3. Would you support releasing the original five year plan now that it is a historical document so the citizens of PR could assess how successful this decision to become a regional telecom was?
Christo Holmes

CityWest…get a lot of questions about that…first of all it will never be able to compete with major telco’s if they decide to aggressively go for this market…its NOT a major liability now….they paid a $1,000,000 dividend to the city this year…not saying that it will become one(liability) soon but technology breakthroughs do threaten the cell and cable services…and part of the net worth is $ 28 mil goodwill…makes good money from wireline..

Satisfaction…only have a wireline so perhaps am not qualified to comment…what do you think?

Re; 5 year plan by definition is almost ridiculous in the 21st Century…Man made a Plan…

…and God laughed
anne

keep citywest (income) Yiddish proverb man makes plans and god laughs
Speakkuppr

Christo, You may want to rview the financial statements for Citywest before stating what they paid in dividends. And as Rogers and others roll out their lte technology, you may be one of the few remaining landline and cable customers.
Speakuppr

And politicians sell things to the public but plan others
Christo Holmes

I spoke with City Financial guy Dan Rodin on Monday to verify whether the city had received a $1,000,000 dividend this year(2011)…,and he confirmed that they had…and Rogers will not be coming in here EVER to compete with the landline business…and I do not subscribe to city cable …The big question with City West is one of the FUTURE…because presently its a cash cow (as it has always been) but delivery of cable TV,cell and
internet service is extremely competitive and each technological advance demands a similar investment from City West,a company that is serving a very small market….my fear is that soon the cost to keep up with technology(what consumers demand) will be higher than total revenue..
Speakuppr

No Rogers has no intent on getting into the land line business as that is old technology. Telephone, data and video are all moving to wireless which will destroy the CityWest investment in land line (Telephone and Cable) investment. Good to hear that we did get a dividend this year after last year was skipped. Frankly the City has bled this company so badly that it has been unable to keep up with investing in it infrastructure and I suspect that this is still the case regardless of the ability of CityWest to pay a dividend and invest in it’s infrastructure.
Alex

Hey,

Ok, so this guys name is Rob Vallee, running for Alderman in Prince Rupert. He is a past owner of DataBoy Computers here. He walked on his partners because he thought they were treating him badly. They were getting pissed at him because of the way he was running the company. He invited two employees to become partners then left the business after taking a draw on his shareholders account over time. That amount exceeded his credit by more than $5000.00.
Items one of his partners says are true-
He was audited a couple years ago and as recently as last year there were Canada Revenue agents looking for him at the store that he bailed out on.
He deducted money from employees for extended medical and when two of the employees went to the dentist they were presented with invoices that the dentist said they had to pay personally as there was no extended coverage for them. It is not known who ended up paying after all.
His partner who now runs DataBoy has had to pay off a number of checks and fees they incurred as a result of checks he bounced to suppliers. He also bounced some payroll checks as well.
He now runs a business out of a converted ambulance rather than a store front.

Problem, the public is unaware of how he runs his show and he is running high enough in the polls to the point that he will probably get in.
Yikes !!